When the Red Moon Rises
by UrbanChameleon
Summary: Itachi's ANBU team is tasked with investigating a series of murders and disappearances left in the wake of two mysterious shinobi wearing black robes with red clouds. Sasuke, recently graduated from the Academy, struggles with his own feelings while growing up in his brother's shadow. Non-massacre AU. Rated M for themes I consider dark.
1. A Moment's Breath

**Chapter 1 - A Moment's Breath**

"Congratulations!"

It seemed to be the word of the day at the Konoha Academy. It was on everyone's lips, just like pride was in everyone's eyes – parents and students alike. It was uttered in every corner and hung in the air almost as heavily as the smell of honeysuckle. It made Sasuke queasy and irritated, even more so knowing his mother was somewhere in the back, glowing with the same sentiments herself. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and crossed his arms. The _hitai-ate_ felt tight and uncomfortable around his head and he felt his forehead sweating underneath – whoever had had the wonderful idea of holding this celebration on a midsummer noon should have been dragged to the public square and beaten.

The students were aligned in the middle of the courtyard, under the merciless sun, while parents, grandparents and siblings watched from the back, clumped up under the shade of the trees that lined the fence. They were chattering among themselves in hushed whispers, somehow managing to make more clamor than if they had been talking out loud.

Sasuke tapped his foot and threw a glance over his shoulder. His mother was immersed in a conversation with someone. No sign of his father or brother. The ceremony was about to begin and he doubted they would make it on time. _That's nothing new,_ he thought. He was, however, unable to deny the bitter taste of disappointment that settled in his mouth. His father missing out on his graduation from the academy was not a surprise. After all, his older brother had graduated when he was 5 years younger than Sasuke. The record had been set.

But Itachi… Itachi had promised he would try. Instead of the usual 'maybe next time', this time he had actually promised. Sasuke blamed himself for believing him. Ever since Itachi had joined the ANBU their relationship had been an uphill struggle. Worse since he had been made captain. Oh, but their father had celebrated _that_. Itachi was always worth his time, his attention, his praise. His hands curled into fists at his side just thinking about it. This day couldn't be over soon enough.

The Hokage himself presided over the ceremony, as he did every year - and each year he somehow looked smaller and smaller under those white and red robes. On he went about the new generation of _shinobi_, Konoha's pride and hope for the future. Sasuke imagined Itachi had heard the same words at his own graduation, ten years ago.

A breeze swept over the heated crowd, but it blew hot and brought little relief. Sasuke squinted, resisting the urge to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun. Just a little longer, he told himself. After all, for how long could one old man go on talking without getting tired? Someone was fidgeting beside him, seemingly as eager as him for this to be over. From the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of orange. It had to be Naruto, the class clown. The idiot had failed the examination, he should not even be here, he thought. But then he noticed Naruto was sporting a _hitai-ate_ too. Somehow, he had passed, then. It spoke volumes about the laxity of the system and Sasuke now understood what his father meant when he sometimes argued Konoha was growing weaker. It began here, at the Academy.

By the time the ceremony was over, it was a wonder that no one had passed out. Sasuke would not be surprised if this turned out to be the hottest day of this year's summer. And it was not yet over for the graduates, he thought dismally, shifting his _hitai-ate_ to wipe the beads of sweat forming underneath.

"_Genin_, you will now all return to your classrooms, where your teacher will inform you of your teams," one of the faculty said loudly after the Hokage had finished his speech and shuffled back to his seat. "Congratulations once more! You are now Konoha shinobi."

Sasuke scoffed. He shoved his hands in his pockets and dragged his feet around to make for the entrance to the school when his eyes caught sight of a familiar figure standing apart from the crowd, leaning against the fence.

Itachi.

Sasuke's feet stopped of their own accord. There was a jolt of surprise in his heart. How long had he been standing there, watching? He certainly had not been there the first time Sasuke had looked. After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke changed his direction, parting from the crowd of _genin_ making their way inside the school building.

Itachi straightened up with a wan smile and reached out a hand, two fingers extended. Sasuke stopped short of being poked, the look in his eyes rather stern. It bothered him that he was still being treated like a five-year old. And in public. His older brother's arm hung in the air for a few seconds, then slowly descended to rest at his side.

"Sorry I was late, _otouto_," Itachi said, accepting the silent reprimand in Sasuke's look.

"I was expecting you not to show up at all, so…" Sasuke trailed off rather coldly, only to regret it a moment later, when his eyes noticed the hints of his brother's state. Eyes half-closed, dark circles underneath, pale skin. There were details even a veteran shinobi could not hope to conceal from eyes which knew where to look. Itachi had been gone for well over a week this time, and at the very least, it looked like he had not gotten any sleep for the past two days. No rest for the ANBU, it seemed. "In any case, thanks for coming," Sasuke added.

"I believe congratulations are in order."

Sasuke was about to respond when their mother noticed them and rushed over. "Itachi! What a pleasant surprise," she said. Her hand came to rest on Sasuke's shoulder, even as her eyes quickly took in Itachi's state. She at least had the grace to say nothing of it, though Itachi was certain he would hear no end of it on the way home.

"I have to go," Sasuke said, looking over his shoulder. The last of his classmates were now filing in through the doors and he did not want to be late for what would come next. He threw one more look at Itachi. "I'll see you tonight?" What he had meant as an affirmation came out of his mouth as a question. Nothing was ever certain with Itachi. Sasuke had learned that the hard way over the years, and sometimes it showed against his will.

Itachi nodded. Sasuke graced him with a half-smile before walking off. He watched the Uchiha clan's crest on the back of his little brother's shirt and his vision doubled and blurred. He closed his eyes, feeling slightly chilly in spite of the heat that hung heavily in the summer air. He had pushed his whole squad to the limit to get here on time. Not one of them had complained, but his own body certainly was.

His mother waited until Sasuke was out of earshot before turning her full attention on him. "How long since you last slept, Itachi?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. There had never been any point in lying to her, she was a _jounin_ and, more than that, a mother.

"42 hours," Itachi said.

Mikoto sighed. "I'm sure Sasuke would have understood," she said. Itachi merely displayed a wan smile. That alone was enough to make her relent. "You're a good brother, Itachi. Come on, let's get you home. I'll make the two of you your favorite meals for dinner tonight."

It seemed like forever had passed by the time Itachi's head hit the pillow. His hair was still wet from the shower he had forced himself to take and it stuck to his cheek, feeling cold, but he did not have the energy to care anymore. He pulled the covers and huddled under them, his head swimming with red clouds on black.

Their mission had been a scouting one. In the past month there had been reports of strange activity in the local countryside, of _shinobi_ garbed in black cloaks with red clouds and people disappearing or found dead in their wake. The latest report had placed them in a city very near Konoha and the Hokage had not liked that one bit, so he had dispatched Itachi's team to investigate. They had spent over a week following the leads in those reports, going from one town to another, inquiring about the incidents, but had returned mostly empty handed. The one consistent piece of information which had come out of this investigation was that there were two such _shinobi_, and that one was male and the other, female. Witnesses produced conflicting reports on the exact symbols displayed on the _shinobi's hitai-ate_, but all agreed that they were slashed with a single line, as if their wearers had renounced their allegiance to their village of origin and were making a bold statement of it.

Itachi forced his eyes shut. He should be catching up on sleep, not tire his mind further by thinking of the mission or what would come next. For now, he had done his job. He had made it to his little brother's graduation ceremony. He deserved some rest.

* * *

It seemed like he had slept for no more than a moment when he sensed his little brother approaching. Itachi opened his eyes to a now dark room and realized it was already evening. Now he could hear Sasuke's steps coming down the hallway and he sat up, running a hand through his tangled hair twice to settle it down.

"_Aniki_, dinner," came Sasuke's voice from beyond the door. He had spoken before knocking, Itachi noted. As if he were keeping the closed door between them. He was slowly losing his little brother, he thought. Sasuke was growing into a man, into a _shinobi_. Soon, he would no longer need Itachi and whatever emotional attachment was left between them would be gone when Sasuke realized that. Whatever Itachi did now may already be too little, too late, he feared.

"I'm coming," he said.

Mikoto had outdone herself tonight for her sons, attempting to show them how proud she was of their achievements. The dinner table was laden with their favorite meals and everything smelled wonderful. Itachi's stomach growled at the sight. All he had had for the past week had been food pills to keep him going. Whenever he returned from a mission, he realized how thankful he was for the little things people usually took for granted, like a soft bed or a hot meal, or even the safety of one's home. When in the field, ANBU would always sleep with one eye open, even if they took turns to keep watch.

They all took their places at the table. Fugaku put down the scroll he was reading and his eyes swept past Sasuke over to Itachi, who inwardly cringed, knowing how it must have made his little brother feel, especially today.

"Welcome back, Itachi," their father said. "I trust your mission went well."

"As well as could be, father," Itachi said, then sought to quickly divert Fugaku's attention. "So, tell me about your teammates, _otouto_."

"I'm with the class idiot and an annoying girl," Sasuke replied, unhelpfully.

Fugaku looked at his younger son, but he said nothing, even as his gaze lingered. Sasuke appeared not to notice and began loading his plate with his favorites.

"People may end up surprising you," Itachi said.

"Oh, yes, Naruto Uzumaki is number one when it comes to surprising people." From Sasuke's tone, Itachi gleaned that they were not the pleasant kind of surprises. Out of the corner of his eyes, he noticed a strange look pass between his parents.

Uzumaki. Of course. Itachi had been young, but he remembered his mother's best friend, Kushina Uzumaki. Hair that red was hard to forget. And, being a member of the ANBU for so many years, he was privy to the secret which pertained to Kushina's son, Naruto. Images of the night the _kyuubi_ had attacked Konoha flashed before his eyes. He looked at Sasuke and remembered how small he had been in his arms as he ran with him through the streets of Konoha to reach safety. The _kyuubi_ was now hosted safely inside his teammate's body. Sasuke had no way of knowing that and perhaps it would be a long time before he learned the truth about Naruto Uzumaki.

"Itachi, you should eat more," Mikoto said softly. "You've lost weight."

"_Hai, hai,_" he said, taking another small bite. But reverting to actual food after a prolonged diet consisting of food pills had to be done gradually, no matter how his stomach sang odes at the sight and smell of the feast on the table. He did not wish to spend the night throwing up until dawn. Thus, unable to do much eating, he became increasingly aware of the subtle tension that hung in the air. It had worsened since the last time they had all had dinner together, he judged. Sasuke had been steadily growing ill-tempered over the past couple of years, and their father's absence from his graduation day had likely done more damage than anything. Itachi found himself not having any idea how to defuse the situation.

Sasuke was the first to finish his meal and asked to be excused. Mikoto began to gather the empty plates after he was gone, but she was not one to let things be. "Fugaku, you should have said something to him," she said.

"He did what needed to be done, what everyone else did and no more. He should not expect praise for that."

"He was the first in his year! I think that, at least, merits some acknowledgement," Mikoto retorted. Her eyes flashed to Itachi, then back to her husband. "Sasuke is not Itachi. His path is different. I wish you were willing to see that."

Itachi pushed back his chair. The fact that his parents considered him old enough to talk about such things in his presence did not make them easier to listen to. He picked up his plate and went to the sink to do the dishes, but Mikoto stepped in and insisted he let her do it, so he thanked her for the meal and left the kitchen in search for his little brother. He heard his parents' argument continue quietly after that, but he blocked it out, not wanting to hear more.

Sasuke's door was shut, unsurprisingly. Itachi took in a sharp breath and knocked. "Sasuke. It's…"

The door opened before he could finish his sentence. Sasuke was looking up at him, but the look in his eyes was guarded and rather cold. He did not move from the doorway, either, making Itachi stand in the hall and feel kind of awkward. Itachi collected himself. "I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you," he said.

Sasuke hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside and opened the door wide. "Come in."

Itachi stepped inside, unable to remember the last time he had been in Sasuke's room. Surely a long time ago, because he remembered it to look quite differently. Gone were the stacks of comic books that were his little brother's guilty pleasure, gone was his music collection. All that remained were a few books and framed photographs. Sasuke had gone rather minimalistic, which was strange for a teenager. But considering that from now on, he would not have as much time to himself, perhaps Sasuke had thought he would not miss those things.

"Are you eager to begin your life as a _shinobi?_" Itachi asked. If someone had asked him this question ten years ago, on the day of his graduation from the Academy, he would not have known what to say. Perhaps this was because at the time, it felt less like a choice and more like something that needed to be done, regardless of his feelings on the matter. Times were different then.

"I think it was about damn time," Sasuke said with a smirk, plopping down on the bed. For the first time today, Itachi sensed an undercurrent of emotion in his brother's voice. "What about your mission?" Sasuke asked. "I take it something didn't go as planned? They usually don't take this long."

Itachi smiled at Sasuke's spirit of observation, but he shook his head. "You know I'm not allowed to talk about my job, _otouto_. I'm sorry."

"Well, at least you're back in one piece," Sasuke said, even as he remembered Itachi looking like hell at the ceremony. He wondered if he would come back from his missions looking like that. With the team he had, that seemed likely. He must have looked thoughtful, because Itachi picked up on it quickly.

"Something on your mind, _otouto_?"

After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke decided to open up to his brother a little. Looking back, perhaps he had been a bit of an asshole to him earlier that day. "I keep thinking my teammates will only get in the way."

Itachi thought of how to approach the subject without telling his little brother that he may come across to others as rather standoffish. Sasuke was not a bad person. He had merely been left to his own devices for too long. "Give yourself some time to adjust," he said. "You have not even spent one hour together as a team, it's normal for you not to be accustomed to one another."

"You're a team captain. Do things always progress as smoothly as you'd have me believe?"

Itachi suppressed a chuckle for fear Sasuke would think he was not taking him seriously. In truth, he was impressed with his perspicacity. "It's true, some people are more difficult to work with, compared to others. Human relationships are complicated by nature. My belief is that, in time, people can overcome their differences and learn to work together for a common purpose." Sasuke seemed to be listening intently, so Itachi continued. "Members of a team rely on each other to complete a mission. Not one person has all the skills necessary to do it on their own."

"Not even you, the prodigy of the Uchiha clan?"

Itachi smiled and shook his head. "Not even me."

Sasuke waited expectantly for anything else that might slip through the cracks about Itachi's team, but his brother had the most unnerving self-control. Regardless, curiosity drove him to fish for more. "So, what do your teammates have that you don't?"

Persistent, if too direct. Itachi decided to let it slide. He could bite and still not get caught on the hook. "I cannot heal a wound or stabilize a dying person, and there are other, better tracking means than my _sharingan._ To say the least. In my line of work, we put our lives on the line more so than others. Teamwork is essential."

Sasuke smirked. "_Hai, hai_, point taken. I will do my best."

"Who is your _sensei?_"

"Kakashi Hatake."

Itachi smiled in a way that puzzled Sasuke. "Then believe me when I say that things will work out." His hand reached out before Sasuke could dodge the two fingers that poked him in the forehead. "Well done, _otouto_. I'm proud of you."

Sasuke rubbed his forehead with a frown, slightly embarrassed but also secretly glad. He realized he had missed Itachi. "You've said that already," he muttered, even as his lips twitched into a smile.

Itachi stood up. Knowing Kakashi's methods, Sasuke's _shinobi_ life would likely begin early in the morning, and he did not want to keep him up too late. Being part of a team would help his little brother more than he knew and Itachi looked forward to hearing of their accomplishments. But for tonight, they both deserved some sleep.

* * *

Itachi woke up late in the morning to the persistent sound of something knocking against glass. He ran a hand through his hair and stepped out of bed, his feet carrying him to the window of their own accord as he fought through the haziness of sleep. A crow was perched on the window sill, knocking with its beak against the pane. Upon seeing Itachi, it stopped and cocked its head to one side, gazing at him expectantly. Itachi recognized one of his teammates' summons and quickly opened the window. To hear from his team so soon after returning from their mission could only mean one thing.

The crow held out a leg and Itachi took the tiny scroll attached to it. Reading the coded text it contained confirmed his suspicion. There was no time to lose. Another report had arrived that morning. No sighting of the two mysterious _shinobi_ this time, only more dead bodies. The moment Itachi finished reading the scroll, the crow vanished in a puff of smoke. Akane would know he was coming.

Itachi washed up and got dressed in a pinch, then launched himself into the mad dash across Konoha's rooftops towards the ANBU headquarters. He covered the distance of a twenty-minute walk in little under three minutes and when he burst through the doors of the locker room, most of his team had already assembled and were standing by in full ANBU attire.

"What do we know?" Itachi asked the moment he walked in. A small scroll could only hold so much information, he needed to be fully briefed on the situation.

Tsume Inuzuka, the oldest member on their team and Itachi's second-in-command, stepped forward. Her _ninken,_ Kuromaru, stepped beside her and sat stoically, watching Itachi, who was already changing into his ANBU attire. It did not matter that there were two women in the room with him. ANBU members did not stumble over such trivialities as nakedness. "One of our patrols has been found dead not one day from Konoha," Tsume said. "Murdered, and recently. Hokage-sama believes there is a connection between this mess and our mysterious, roaming _shinobi._ He wants us to investigate before any potential trail grows cold again."

"Where's Tenzo?" Itachi inquired, noticing that one member of their team had still not showed up. Him and Tenzo went back a long time, having been on team Ro, under Kakashi.

The other _kunoichi_ on their team, Akane Nara, replied. "He has received the summons. I assume he will arrive shortly."

Itachi nodded and finished putting on his sandals. As if on cue, the door slammed open and in walked a rather breathless Tenzo already taking off pieces of clothing as he strode towards his locker. "Don't mind me," Tenzo managed to say in between sharp intakes of air. "I'll be done in a moment and you can brief me on the way."

Tsume tutted, but held her tongue when Itachi quietly raised a hand to stop her. "What else do we have?" he asked. He saw Tsume hesitate for a moment before she spoke.

"We got word from the cleanup crew at the site while you were on your way here," she said. "They said they won't remove the bodies, because we need to see them."

Itachi's brows furrowed at that. On a hot summer such as this, relocating the bodies should have been a priority. Who knew how many hours had passed since their death until they were found? And then it would take his team a bit to get there, too. This did not bode well. "We need to double up on our speed," Itachi said.

"Understood, captain,"three voices responded in unison.


	2. Smoke and Mirrors

**Chapter 2 – Smoke and Mirrors**

The sun had reached its apex and was beginning its slow descent towards the west as the four ANBU sped through the trees. Seen from below, to the untrained eye they would have looked like fleeting shadows, the rustle they made through the foliage too faint to hear. Woodlands were, naturally, a Konoha shinobi's favored terrain - none could navigate it stealthier. Their swift passage would not alert even the keen senses of native wildlife, and deer grazed on in their wake.

Itachi stopped on a high branch, and with him, the rest of the team came to a halt as well. They had been at it for a good couple of hours and needed to catch their breath before going any further. Even the usual cool respite of the forest had suffered because of the heat wave that held the Land of Fire in its grasp. It did not make their journey easier.

Everyone briefly removed their ANBU masks to wipe the sweat from their faces and drink water. Kuromaru alone, perched on a wide, sturdy branch, did not drink. Instead, he closed his one remaining eye and turned his nose up into the air, sniffing. "The air smells of death," the _ninken_ said in a gruff voice. As if to support that statement, the black fur on his back stood on end and he shook in revulsion.

Tsume regarded her animal companion with a serious look in her eyes. "Yeah," she said. "I feel it too."

Itachi felt not even the slightest trace of the cloying smell of death in the faint breeze. However, the nose was to an Inuzuka and their _ninken_ what his sharingan was to him. Their sense of smell was unparalleled – hundreds of times more astute than that of other shinobi.

"Maybe it's for the better."

Itachi turned his gaze to the lithe figure standing beside him, gazing absently in the distance. Being this team's captain had always made him feel a bit strange, given that he was also its youngest member. Akane, however, was the closest to him in age – only two years older. "What is?" he asked her.

"If the bodies are untouched, I can glean more information from them."

Itachi nodded. "Same goes for the rest of us with the scene."

"Either way, this is bound to be unpleasant," Tsume said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Or in any case, a hell lot more unpleasant than the shit we deal with on a regular basis."

It was not long before Itachi signaled it was time for them to get moving again. They had made good time and were bound to reach their destination hours before sundown, but every minute counted. His teammates accepted the quiet urgency of the pace he set without a word of complaint, and on they went.

They found the cleanup crew camped up by a river, under the shelter of a rocky outcrop. Although Tsume now had an almost pained expression on her face, Itachi could still not sense any foul odor in the air, so he found it safe to assume they were still minutes away from the scene. The other shinobi jumped in surprise as the four ANBU suddenly landed down from the trees in the middle of their camp.

"You startled us," one of them said. "But I guess that's ANBU for you." He sounded nervous and ill at ease. Itachi's sharingan caught the slight movement of the man's trembling hands and took in his high pulse by looking at a throbbing vein underneath the skin on his neck. The man cleared his throat and straightened his back. "I suppose you haven't come to listen to me blabber, though," he said. "Your scene is that-a-way. A good ten-minute walk." Directions were unnecessary at this point, but Itachi accepted them graciously with a nod of his head. However, nervous people often felt the need to talk more, and the man continued. "It's quite the grisly scene, I'm afraid. That's… uhm, that's why we waited for you people."

"How many?" Itachi asked. Although he knew the usual patrols consisted of two chuunin, the man's tone conveyed a deep state of unsettlement, which seemed to suggest more. But the answer took him by surprise. Two. "Wait here," he told the cleanup crew, then he motioned for his teammates to get going.

"That was a medic-nin," Akane said when they had put enough distance between themselves and the cleanup crew. "Most of us are not so easily disturbed."

The fact had not eluded Itachi. He realized he had unconsciously picked up the pace, though, and wondered if part of what drove him now was morbid curiosity. What could happen to a human body that would cause a medic-nin to become so unsettled? However hesitant he was to let his imagination run wild, he could not help wondering. Itachi did not have to wonder for long, though, before his nose caught onto the stench of death.

The sharingan had picked up on every single detail before his teammates had even laid eyes on the scene that unfolded before them. It made Itachi stop dead in his tracks as his eyes went up, up towards the canopy, wondering where it ended. The intricate web of wire glinted in the sun, wound so tightly only Itachi's eyes could perceive its minute movement in the slight breeze. Blackened drops of blood clung to it like jewels on a string. Following them to their source took less than a second, but it felt like forever. The corpse was trapped in this net, suspended at least nine feet from the ground.

Akane gasped softly behind him. A moment later, he heard a twig snap as Tsume rushed to retch behind a tree.

"Kuromaru," Itachi said. The black hound padded into his field of view, but Itachi's sharingan could not seem to tear itself away from the body hanging in the wire trap. "Take Tsume-san back to the cleanup crew's camp."

"Yes, captain."

"Tenzo, help me take down the body."

The wires were too tangled to take down without cutting them. For all intents and purposes, it seemed to Itachi as if the shinobi had struggled in the trap for quite some time before dying. _Like a fly in a spider's web, _he found himself thinking. Judging from the way the trap had been laid out, every move had only entangled him more. Itachi had to consider carefully before cutting each wire, not wanting the body to fall down to the ground in one go. It took over twenty minutes before he and Tenzo finally managed to ease the corpse all the way down. The trap was irreversibly compromised, but Itachi had committed it to memory.

"Have you ever seen anything like this?" he asked Tenzo when they returned to the ground.

"Many years ago. Something similar, although not quite as… ambitious in scale. It was the daimyo of the Land of Water we found trapped in it, and rumor had it a Kiri-nin was responsible. But Kirigakure is notoriously secretive about its… hidden talents. Back then, they may also have been trying to protect their own hand in it. After all, this happened not long after the daimyo cut Kirigakure's funding down to half."

"Did you ever learn who did it?"

"I'm afraid not."

Itachi took a few moments to consider the next step. _There should be a second body,_ he thought, still unable to look away from the first one. Up close, the extensive damage the shinobi had taken prior to his death was more obvious. His body was marked with a myriad of cuts both shallow and deep, but none deep enough to have severed an artery. The killer had not granted this man the mercy of a quick death. Even more, the man had probably struggled until the end, clinging to the hope of escaping. But this had been a death trap from the get go.

"Akane," Itachi called.

She approached from behind him. "The second body is over there," she said, pointing to the base of a tree only a few feet away. The corpse was only partially visible from Itachi's angle.

"Have you examined it?"

"Yes," Akane said. "But I would like to examine this one, too, before I give you my conclusions."

Itachi nodded in assent and while the _kunoichi_ knelt beside the first body to begin her examination, he walked over to the second body to have a look at it. Tenzo followed him closely. The difference between the two bodies was evident from the moment Itachi first laid eyes on the second dead shinobi. This one had not one mark on his skin, or even his clothes. Had it not been for the thin line of dried blood at the corner of his mouth and the signs of decay, one might have thought he was sleeping.

"I, for one, am starting to think Hokage-sama was right about this being connected to our mysterious shinobi," Tenzo said. "This one looks a lot like the other bodies we found this week. Although it seems like this killer's partner has decided to join the fray," he continued, throwing a glance towards the other body. "Different methods."

"I agree," Itachi said.

Akane stood up then and the three of them walked towards the nearby clearing for some fresh air. Itachi now turned to the _kunoichi_, waiting for her input. As a combat medic-nin, her expertise played a vital part in their investigation.

"They both bled to death," she began. "The one in the wire trap is obvious, but the interesting thing is that all his wounds seem self-inflicted. There is not a mark on him to suggest damage from any source other than those wires, and it appears consistent with the effort of freeing himself from that mess. He died with a kunai in hand, trying to cut himself loose. I would place his time of death less than 24 hours ago."

"So, he was in the trap before he even got the chance to look his killer in the eyes," Tenzo said. "Itachi, how long do you think it would take to build something like this?"

Itachi had considered it, so he had an answer ready. "Using clones, which would be the most efficient way, I would say under two minutes." Some of the wires had been wound around tree trunks, others had been secured using kunai.

"That's still a lot of work just to kill one person," Tenzo said. "That and the prolonged death would suggest the work of a sadist."

"What about the second body?" Itachi asked Akane.

"It's exactly like the ones we found earlier this week. He died from severe internal bleeding. Ruptured spleen from a single, high-power attack that left no outer mark. The wall of his heart was also ruptured from an identical blow. The damage to his internal organs came in quick succession. Death followed quickly."

"Fast and efficient. More like an execution," Tenzo interjected. "There were definitely two killers."

Itachi looked around the clearing, his sharingan not missing one thing. "We know the patrols have been alerted of these black-robed shinobi roaming around Konoha," he said. "They may have come across them by chance and pursued with the intent of apprehending them."

"You think they came this way," Tenzo said, following Itachi's unerring gaze.

"I see tracks suggesting a chase," Itachi said after studying the broken twigs in the underbrush and the faint footprints on the ground. He then turned in the direction of the bodies. "The second body is between this clearing and the wire trap. I believe each patrolman attempted to tackle a killer." He started walking back the way they had come, retracing their steps, and stopped beside the second body. "One of them fought here. He was dealt with quickly. The other one ran straight into the second killer's trap."

Tenzo seemed thoughtful. "You said it would take two minutes at most to build that kind of trap," he said. "But it takes less than a minute to walk from here to where the trap is and I believe our unfortunate patrolman was in more of a hurry than us."

Itachi led them forward, to the trap. He pointed to the trees. "Look at that moss growing on the bark. You can see the lines where the wires used to be before we cut them down, but the wires did not damage it – the moss just hadn't been there before."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Moss requires humidity." It had not rained in the area recently. Even in the woods, the ground was dry as bone, and the grass brittle and burned where the canopy was not thick enough to shield it from the sun.

"Ah," Tenzo said, his very large eyes even larger as he studied the moss. "Mist concealment. That's how our patrolman was delayed. He was then probably lured into the trap. Itachi, what are the odds for this to be the same Kiri-nin who killed the daimyo all those years ago?"

"I can tell you one thing," Itachi said, looking at the mess of cut wires on the ground. "They don't teach you things like this in trapmaking. At least, not in Konoha."

"Yet there is something slightly reminiscent of Konoha," Akane said, sounding a bit hesitant. Itachi turned to face her. She was looking at the second body. For some reason, he knew he would not like what she was about to say before Akane even opened her mouth. "These bodies without a single outer mark on them… they remind me of the effects of the Hyuuga clan's Gentle Fist fighting style."

Itachi's train of thought came to a screeching halt. A Hyuuga? That brought about more implications than he would have liked to consider. The Hyuuga clan was considered one of Konoha's oldest noble families and their Byakugan, a carefully protected asset. To think that one of them had slipped through the cracks… but no. A defector from the Hyuuga clan would have been hard news to miss, and he had not heard of any such thing.

"Of course, none of us can see the _tenketsu_, which this fighting style targets," Akane said. "Only the Byakugan can see the chakra pathways. Without it, we can't be certain the _tenketsu_ have suffered damage."

No Hyuuga would ever condescend to help in solving this dilemma, with the silent accusation looming above their heads. That much, Itachi was certain of. Akane's instinct may well be right, but there was little that could be done to go deeper into the matter without offending the Hyuuga. He did not think the Hokage would help in that regard either, with so little evidence to go on.

"We need to track them down," Itachi said after a few long minutes of silent consideration. "And we have no time to lose. Tenzo, run back to the cleanup crew's camp and tell them we're done here. Grab Tsume and Kuromaru. Akane and I will attempt to find these killers' tracks and follow them. I trust the three of you can catch up with us by sundown."

"_Hai,_ captain," Tenzo said.

Although the strain on his eyes from using the sharingan for the past few hours was considerable, Itachi felt he had rested enough during the investigation to keep it up for a while longer. Without Tsume and Kuromaru's sense of smell, he would have to use the sharingan to track the two killers. He quickly looked over the scene once more, starting from the disabled trap. Even in the clearing, most of the footprints he had seen belonged to the patrolmen, judging by the size and shape. There was not much to go on, but there was enough.

Itachi paused for a moment. There was one other thing he had wanted to do. Tenzo he had known since their time together in team Ro and he trusted his discretion completely. Akane, however, had been assigned to Itachi's team when he had been made captain. In the four years which had passed since then, he had come to trust her with his life, in the literal sense. The _kunoichi_ was an adept medic-nin and her combat skills gave her the edge all ANBU medics needed. However, her quiet efficiency sometimes unsettled him, and he had never found it as easy to read her as he did others. He needed to make sure.

"Akane." She turned around to face him. Itachi's sharingan locked on to her gaze. "This Hyuuga business - you will not speak of it to anyone. Not even Hokage-sama. I will deal with it myself if it turns out to be true." A flash of surprise, then nothing.

"_Hai,_ captain," was her only response. If his words had stung, she did not show it. The fox ANBU mask she was wearing did not help Itachi in gleaning more from her reaction, so he left it at that.

There was a faint trail that led the two of them away, in the opposite direction from the clearing where the patrolmen had launched into their ill-fated pursuit. Judging by the tracks, the two murderers had not been overly concerned with concealing their passage after leaving the scene. By the time the rest of their teammates caught up with them, Itachi and Akane were well underway through the dense woods.

However, soon they would be losing daylight. Itachi decided against continuing, even though they could have gone on after the scent Kuromaru had picked up. Now was not a good time to push it. Everyone was tired as it was, not to mention none of them had likely made up for all of those hours they had gone without sleep. They settled down to rest up in the trees just as the first stars appeared in the sky. Crickets began to chirp all around them, forming a continuous background hum.

"So, we're dealing with an assassin and a fucking psycho?" Tsume asked, her voice devoid of its usual energy. Tenzo had just finished briefing her on their findings. "Sounds like a shitload of trouble to me," she said.

_That doesn't even scratch the surface_, Itachi thought. Ever since arriving at the murder scene that afternoon he had been plagued by an ill feeling that hung heavily in his stomach. The sensation had grown worse with each piece of the puzzle they had uncovered and even now, sleep eluded him because of it. What if they were missing something? He took the first watch to try and sort through his thoughts.

Everyone was fast asleep within minutes. Itachi took out a scroll and began to write a short report to keep the Hokage up to date with their progress. He mentioned nothing of Akane's speculations about one of the killers being a Hyuuga. When he finished, he formed a seal with two fingers and summoned a crow.

"Take this to Hokage-sama," he said, tying the scroll to its foot.

Itachi then watched the bird take flight and disappear into the night. He leaned his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. They were burning and the strain of using the sharingan for so long was amounting to a pulsating headache. _Just a little longer_, he thought. His watch would only last for two hours. _Just a little longer._

His thoughts drifted to Sasuke. He had not had the time to say goodbye to him. If something were to happen to him, Sasuke would never forgive him. It had probably never crossed the boy's mind that his older brother was not infallible – that he may one day get hurt, or even die. It sometimes felt as if Sasuke lived in a genjutsu world when it came to Itachi. In his little brother's eyes, he was not human, but something more. Itachi wished things were different.

He was so lost in thought that by the time Tsume woke up to take the second watch, Itachi had not even realized his two hours were up. A wave of relief coursed through his head as he deactivated the sharingan and faded into a dreamless sleep almost at once.

* * *

"Itachi-san."

It was Akane's voice, but something was wrong and it was not just her tone. Itachi opened his eyes, allowing himself exactly two seconds to dispel the haziness of sleep that clung to his eyelids and become fully alert. Red bled into black and his sharingan activated, already searching for what was amiss. But it could not be seen, only heard.

"The forest is quiet," Akane said. She had already assumed a crouching position, every muscle tense, as her hand hovered over the weapon pouch bound to her thigh. The crickets had fallen silent. There were no hooting owls in the trees, no scurrying of rodents in the underbrush on the forest floor below. Not one leaf moving. A forest this quiet could only mean one thing to a Konoha-nin: trouble.

Kuromaru stirred one moment and was on his feet the next, ears perked up and nose in the air. Tsume was already putting on her mask. Tenzo was sitting very still, but had also become fully awake, and his eyes moved to Itachi's left, somewhere below. From the opposite tree, Tenzo had a different angle, so Itachi turned his head for the sharingan to follow his teammate's gaze.

Tendrils of mist were creeping in from the darkness among the trees, swallowing them branch by branch, expanding in all directions. Too thick and fast-moving to be natural – it had to be _ninjutsu_, and it was coming their way. Itachi had no time to wonder how they had found them or why two shinobi would be willing to take their chances against an ANBU team of four.

"Don't move too much, and watch out for traps," he told them. He had to admit that despite their numerical advantage, they were at a tactical disadvantage. "Stick together," was his final command.

There was nowhere further up to go to escape the creeping mist, and they could not know if there were traps set in the trees around them, so the only way left for them to take was down to the forest floor. They stood in a circle, back to back, to have all directions covered. _It's coming from everywhere,_ Itachi noted, watching the mist advance. The foreboding feeling hung low in his stomach, growing heavier by the minute. Sasuke's face flashed before his eyes for a split second. _Focus, Itachi,_ he told himself, shaking his head.

There was a dull thud behind him. He spun on his heels and his eyes widened in surprise. Tsume was lying on the ground, eyes closed, not moving. She was breathing, albeit slowly. The mist had not even reached them yet. _Genjutsu?_ he wondered. For that, the attacker ought to have been close to mid-range. Itachi scanned their surroundings once more, but not even his sharingan could penetrate the encroaching mist. Kuromaru arched his back, a deep growl coming from his throat. He, too, was looking around, seemingly unable to locate the source of the scent he had caught. Itachi quickly knelt beside Tsume, placed a hand on her shoulder and used his other hand to form the release seal. "_Kai!"_

Tsume did not stir. Itachi pulled back, nonplussed. He turned her head and his sharingan fell on the dart embedded on the other side of Tsume's neck. "Akane, have a look at this."

Itachi motioned for Tenzo and Kuromaru and the three of them spread out a bit, forming a protective circle around the two _kunoichi _as Akane rushed down beside her fallen teammate at Itachi's behest. The mist engulfed them all completely.

Itachi breathed in deeply and then out, slowly. He would find a way out of this, for himself and his team. He would get them all back safely to Konoha. That was his number one priority. Kakashi had taught him well. He hoped Sasuke would someday learn that from him, like Itachi had.


	3. The Smell of Lies

**A big THANK YOU to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review! You're awesome, you warm a writer's heart :)**

**Chapter 3 – The Smell of Lies**

"Oi, that thing is going to swallow us up soon," Tsume said, flexing her clawed fingers as she watched the mist advancing towards them from all sides. Her teammates did not reply. "Oi!" she called out, throwing a glance to her right, at Itachi. "Captain!"

Itachi stood still, seemingly frozen in a defensive position. Tsume felt a shiver run down her spine. He was eerily still. Her eyes could not even catch the movement of his chest expanding as he breathed. "Itachi-san!" she cried out, but there was no reply from him, or even the faintest hint that he had heard her.

Tsume turned to the other side. Kuromaru was just as immobile, his face frozen into a snarl. To his left, Akane mirrored Itachi's defensive stance, a kunai drawn and ready to deflect anything that came her way. Tenzo had frozen as he was drawing his sword from the scabbard on his back. Tsume's hands began to tremble. She turned back to Itachi and grabbed on to his arm to shake him, but his flesh was stone-hard and it cracked and crumbled at her touch. A scream caught in the back of her throat.

"Kuromaru!" she cried out, turning to her _ninken_. Tsume's hands reached out towards him, but he, too, began to crumble and with that, tears welled in her eyes. Kuromaru had been her loyal companion ever since her graduation from the Academy, more than twenty years ago. He was more than a weapon - he was kin to her. After her husband had cowardly run out on her, leaving her to raise Hana and Kiba alone, Kuromaru had become her closest confidant.

Her body began to tremble as she stood beside the pile of dust which had been Kuromaru. Without her _ninken,_ she felt halved. Panic swelled within her. She could feel her pulse quickening, the sound of it loud in her ears. She pulled at her hair, fighting the tears, fighting the pain. She could not allow emotions to overcome her senses. Nine years' worth of experience in the ANBU could not, _would not_ amount to this. _Think, Tsume, think,_ she commanded herself.

When it hit her, it did so with the force of a crashing wave. She looked at the pile of dust which had been Kuromaru. Pain shot through her heart at the sight, but the sensation was diminished by realizing there was something amiss about it. How had she not noticed it before? Tsume had become known in the ANBU as the woman who could "smell a lie". Using her sense of smell alone, she could tell if someone was lying to her merely by the subtle changes in their scent. Lying produced an emotional reaction, which, no matter how small, triggered a chemical reaction in turn; a change in the liar's bodily secretions, which Tsume's nose could pick up on within moments of the lie being told.

Nothing in the mist smelled of anything. Tsume grinned. She had never been adept at genjutsu herself, but, after all, a genjutsu was just another kind of lie and she was adept at countering those. She would not fall for it so easily. She closed her eyes as her hands moved together to form the release seal. "Kai!" she said.

But when Tsume opened her eyes, Kuromaru was still a pile of dust. That's when she started screaming.

* * *

Akane held up the dart. The taste of Tsume's blood and something slightly bitter, with a distinct, flowery aroma, lingered on the tip of her tongue. She had judged it to be safe to ingest by smelling it, and was now certain of what it was. "A rather potent hallucinogen," she said. Itachi was listening intently, even as he constantly surveyed their surroundings. Akane continued. "I'm afraid Tsume-san will be under its effects for a few hours. It's made from the flowers of a plant called dreamweed. It only grows in some marshes and is considered native to the Land of Water."

Itachi opened his mouth to speak and turned his head just in time to see a kunai with an explosive tag attached cut through the mist. It lodged itself into the ground beside Tsume, in the middle of their protective circle. The tag sizzled as it burned and Itachi barely had time to give his team the command to spread out before it went off.

The ground shook as the explosion roared behind Itachi. He covered his ears in time, but even so they began ringing after the detonation. Luckily, most of the sound had been muffled by the thick mist. The sound of an explosion at that range would have ruptured his eardrum otherwise. His heart had picked up its pace, sending adrenaline through his bloodstream. He stood on slightly unsteady feet, finding himself alone in the mist. This was bad.

The enemy had succeeded in separating them. Their only chance was to regroup, but the mist prevented that from happening. More so, he had no way of knowing if everyone had even made it away safely from the blast. The thought bothered him greatly, considering Tsume had been incapacitated. He thought of shouting to locate his teammates, but that would be of no use, given how the mist had stifled the sound of the explosion. His sharingan was rendered useless. The enemy had proven adept at maneuvering them so far, so did not want to risk falling into a trap. Indeed, his only remaining option seemed to be trying to dispel the mist itself.

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_ Chakra erupted from his mouth in the form of roaring flames. He directed it upwards, not wanting to risk hurting his teammates, if any were near him. He hoped some of the light from the fire would penetrate the haze, as well, giving them his location. The mist receded, evaporated instantly by the scorching flames, only to form anew as the air cooled. He had not thought of the fire jutsu as a long-term solution, knowing wind would have been the optimal countermeasure. However, he had not thought it to be this ineffective, either.

A chuckle came from somewhere in the mist. Itachi tensed, instantly arming himself with a kunai and assuming a defensive position. So far, they had had no sense of their enemy whatsoever. Kuromaru alone had, perhaps, an idea of what they smelled like, but the mist had thrown off his ability to track them. This voice belonged to a woman, Itachi thought, and while he was unable to pinpoint her location yet, she must have been very near for him to hear her.

"It's pointless," she said. He could tell she was sneering from the way the words sounded as they came out of her mouth. Still, he could not locate her. Her voice seemed to come from somewhere to his left, but he needed to be sure. "Those pretty eyes of yours?" she asked. "Useless."

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! _The flames scorched through the opalescent mist, hitting a tree to his 10 o'clock. His sharingan caught no hint of movement, but he was certain she had been there, because the direction her voice was coming from changed after that. "My, but we have quite the temper," she said. "Must be that Uchiha blood."

Her knowing his identity gave him pause. She had hinted at the sharingan before, and the Uchiha were famous among shinobi from all nations. However, the ANBU mask concealed his face and surely, she was as blind as him in the mist. Unless, somehow, she was not. His thoughts raced back to Akane's notion that one of the killers was a Hyuuga. The Byakugan was the one thing that could penetrate through this mist. Uncertainty gnawed at him. Was it she who had it or her partner?

"You seem to know who I am," he said, keeping his voice steady. "Would you do me the same courtesy?" He was going on a limb, but it was worth a shot. The mind which had devised the elaborate wire trap had made it to shock whoever discovered it afterwards. If hers was the one, she would want her name to be known. If she was a Hyuuga, then she would likely want to keep her identity secret from him instead.

There was a slight pause before she replied. "Juri," she introduced herself, with a hint of amusement.

A face from his Bingo Book flashed before his eyes. _Kirigakure no Juri_, he thought. The woman was already in it when Itachi had first laid eyes on a Bingo Book and for who knew how long before that. Tenzo may have correctly identified one of her previous works – the assassination of a daimyo. However, she had been listed for going against her superiors' orders when instead of subduing one of the rebellious villages during an uprising in the Land of Water, she had gone on a killing spree, slaying shinobi and civilians alike. Kirigakure had washed its hands clean of her after that blunder, freely giving her name to the other hidden villages. The profile seemed to match, all the way down to the cruel streak.

"You've been practicing your traps," he said, casting the net.

"I like to watch the vermin squirm." The sound of her voice had moved again, ever so slightly. For all her confidence, she was a cautious one. Itachi knew he needed to keep her talking, both in an attempt to pinpoint her location for an attack and to buy some time for his teammates. If she was here, with him, she could not hurt them. He closed his eyes and focused on the sound of her voice alone. She had been moving, but steadily and in the same direction.

"Like flies caught in a spider's web. Is that why they call you the Spider of the Mist?"

Juri scoffed. "Aren't you a chatty one... Who would have thought?"

Itachi's hands formed the seals in a blur. Tiger took shape along with the last word out of her mouth, and Itachi drew air into his lungs. The great ball of flames blazed through the mist, clearing a path and smashing into a tree. He caught glimpse of a human silhouette being consumed in their heat - enough for him to realize it had been only a water clone.

Juri's laughter came from somewhere behind him and he spun on his heels, shuriken already secure between his fingers and flying towards the sound a split second later. Then her voice came from somewhere to his right, the mockery in it now gone, replaced by cold fury. "Don't underestimate me, you brat. I've been killing for as long as you've been breathing."

"Yet instead of poison, you used a hallucinogen on my teammate," Itachi ventured, bracing himself. "I thought you enjoyed watching the vermin squirm," he added, mimicking her previous tone of voice.

He saw her coming, but one split second too late because of the mist. Itachi swerved as best he could in the time he had left before the impact, and her kunai missed its target, nicking his shoulder instead of plunging into his heart. Maddened, violet eyes fixed him over the collar of a black cloak with red clouds. "_Kusogaki,"_ she said. The word came out from between her lips like the hiss of a snake starting to feel threatened.

Itachi quickly caught her arm and locked it securely in his grip, preventing her from forming seals to escape. He had bet on her being impulsive judging by her past reaction and had won the gamble. Drawing a long-range fighter into close range would give him the leverage he needed, especially considering the situation they were in. He was not going to lose the upper hand, no matter what. The cost of that would be too great for him to fathom.

Juri suddenly ducked under him, nearly twisting her own arm out of its socket, but succeeding in throwing Itachi over herself to escape his grip. Her eyes widened as Itachi's body dispersed into a murder of crows when it hit the ground. She lifted herself up from the low position she had landed into after throwing him and was about to jump back into the mist, to safety, when something sharp and cold pressed against her neck.

"Are you a coward, Juri-san?" he asked. "Or are you just not feeling very chatty?"

It wasn't as much the edge of the kunai against her neck as his breathing on it from behind that set her off into a flurry. Only three others had ever managed to get so close to her in combat, and two of them were long-dead. Juri knocked his hand away with little regard for the recklessness of such a move when said hand was holding a weapon at her throat. Then she spun on her heels and drove the _senbon_ she had armed herself with into the Uchiha's heart.

This time, he did not turn into a flock of birds. But he did not flinch either. Pain exploded in her chest instead. Juri's gasped in surprise. Looking down she saw the black cloak torn and three red circles blooming as her own blood soaked the fabric.

Outside the genjutsu, the real Juri screamed, stumbling away from him. Itachi stood still, watching her quietly. He was beginning to see the shapes of trees through the already thinning mist. It would not be long before the forest would be clear of it, given that her mind was currently trapped in his illusion. Her jutsu was broken.

Itachi pulled his blade from the scabbard strapped to his back, willing to show her the mercy she had denied her victims, when three shuriken whizzed past him from behind and embedded themselves in Juri's left arm. She gasped, freed from his genjutsu by the sudden, real pain. Itachi swirled around, sword in hand, only to be blinded by a flash bomb. The sudden, intense light caused pain to shoot through his eyes like a lightning strike. By the time he managed to force them to open them again, Juri was gone.

The forest was suffused in the blue-grey gauze of dawn, though the sun had not yet risen. Itachi rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and allowed the red of the sharingan to fade as birds started to sing in the treetops. He sheathed his sword and looked around, trying to locate his teammates.

Tenzo was the closest to him, only about sixty feet away, though he had jumped into a bit of a situation after the explosion. Itachi approached with caution, careful not to get himself caught in the same wire trap as him, or to set off any of the explosive tags attached to the end of the wires.

"I think I saw the light of your fire jutsu," Tenzo said as Itachi started filling him in on what had happened. "But I didn't dare move. I'm sorry, Itachi."

"You did the right thing," Itachi said as he began to carefully break down the trap. Tenzo would not have seen a thing in the mist and would have likely only ended up making things worse for himself had he moved. He noticed the explosive tags had a minor charge. A blast would not have killed, but it was enough to maim. She liked to watch them squirm, alright. "Do you know anything about the others?" he asked.

"I'm afraid not."

"Well, then," Itachi said, stopping from his work to form a seal. _Kagebunshin no Jutsu! _Two clones appeared beside him and resumed the work on disassembling the trap in his stead.

Tenzo nodded in approval before Itachi even had to ask. "Go," he said.

It took Itachi a few moments before he mustered the courage to reactivate the sharingan. Although he had sufficient chakra, he feared his _dojutsu_ had suffered from the sudden overstimulation caused by the flash bomb after being in the dark for so long. Indeed, his eyes burned when it activated and kept tearing up afterwards, but without it, he would have lost precious time. There was no telling what the rest of the team had faced.

He found the site of the explosion quickly enough. The blast had been large enough to create a small crater and he found the twisted metal remains of the kunai to which the tag had been attached… but to his relief, no human remains. He had feared for Tsume, in her incapacitated state, but it seemed Kuromaru, or Akane, or both of them, had managed to get her away from the explosion.

Itachi decided it was safe enough to shout, but there was no reply. He would have to do this the time-consuming way. He recalculated everyone's starting position, based on Tenzo's current location, since he had moved less than him. From there he started to walk in the direction opposite from the ones he and Tenzo had taken.

Tsume was lying at the base of an oak tree, as motionless as before the explosion. Beside her, equally motionless, lay Kuromaru. There was blood on the grass next to his open mouth and in the fur around his lips, but he was drawing breath. When Itachi approached, his one eye opened. He produced a low rumble in his throat as he struggled to speak.

"Captain," Kuromaru managed to say before a fit of coughing caused him to wince in pain. "The enemy has… her…"

_Akane? _Itachi knelt beside him, pushing emotions to the back of his mind. "Calm yourself," he said to the _ninken_. "Rest." Kuromaru's eye closed. He winced again and his breath quickened for a few moments, then grew shallow and labored. Juri's partner had been busy, too, then. Strange, though, that he had not dealt a killing blow to Kuromaru. The past couple of hours had raised almost as many questions as they had answered.

Itachi stood up just as Tenzo arrived, flexing his back, which had grown stiff from remaining still for so long. He stopped when he saw the expression on Itachi's face and his brows furrowed in concern. He had heard what Kuromaru had said, but surely Itachi wasn't seriously considering it. It went against all their protocols, given the situation. Still, he was the captain. Tenzo had been at his side long enough to know that however difficult, however painful, Itachi would make the right choice. Regardless, it did not make the waiting any easier.

At long last, Itachi spoke. "We're going back to Konoha," he said.

* * *

At first, Akane could remember nothing after the explosion. Only the tension in her muscles. The faint smell of smoke and burnt grass. Tsume's spiky hair tickling the skin on her neck as she lay her down again after leaping to safety. It was slowly starting to come back to her. Kuromaru had helped carry Tsume over by that tree.

But then suddenly she could hear Kuromaru's yelp of pain and the dull thud of his body as it slammed against that same tree, over and over again, bouncing in the empty space of her mind as she slept. She could not remember seeing what had hit him, only confusion. Only the mist.

Healing chakra surging in one hand, Kuromaru's fur soft against her palm. The cold, hard shaft of a kunai in her other hand. She had never restarted a _ninken's_ heart before.

And then?

Darkness. Silence. No, not silence. Something. Akane focused, channeling her will and her strength. That something was just at the edge of her mind, she could feel it but could not reach it. What was it?

_What a pretty face under that mask._

Her heart jumped, like when she was a child and her older brother, Enki, used to manipulate the shadows into monster figures against the walls to frighten her. Whose voice was that, though? She could not remember. Her head was beginning to hurt. There was light behind her closed eyelids.

Slowly, she drew her own mind out of the darkness and into the light. When Akane opened her eyes, everything was a blur at first, just like her thoughts had been. Her body felt numb, devoid of all strength. There were voices, but she could not make them out. The light was moving. _Fire_, she thought. But she had cheated, she could smell the wood burning.

Her wrists hurt. At first it was just discomfort, but the sensation was gradually intensifying. She moved her arms to relieve the tension, but for some reason her hands would not come out from behind her back. The voices were getting clearer now.

"I find your ideas of fun unoriginal." A woman's voice. _Tsume-san? Are you alright?_ Yet it sounded wrong somehow. Wrong pitch, wrong accent, wrong.

"I find yours too messy." Akane's body jolted. That voice. _What a pretty face under that mask._

She wriggled her wrists, slowly coming to realize that they were not going to obey her commands because they were bound. Akane was coming to now, the pace of it increasingly alert, almost racing against her heart. The two silhouettes sitting by the fire were unfamiliar to her, as was the place they were in. As an afterthought, she realized she did not have the ANBU mask on her face anymore.

"Careful!" the female said, sounding aggravated. "You should make _her_ do it, since you dragged her here."

The other one chuckled. "She would sooner cut it off entirely rather than heal it. It's all your fault, you know. If you hadn't fallen for that boy's genjutsu…"

_Itachi-san, _Akane thought, and it connected all the broken pieces in her head. Had they all been defeated, then? Fear settled in her stomach, making her nauseous. Her body started to tremble. She had been captured by an enemy she knew she could not hope to defeat alone. For an ANBU, that only meant one thing.

_Calm down,_ she commanded herself. She did not want them to know she had awakened, not before she was finished. She watched the two figures for a few more moments before deciding they were entirely absorbed in whatever they were doing. Then she turned her head and reached for a tiny, hidden pocket on her left shoulder.

All ANBU members were required to carry a specific pill in that hidden pocket. One everyone hoped they would never have to use. The promise of a painless death upon capture to avoid torture… even to her it had seemed macabre. After all, death was such a finite thing. But to actually find oneself in such a situation could change one's perspective radically. Akane mustered her courage. _Don't think. Don't feel._ She managed to open the pocket and reached in using her lips. It was empty.

"I'm afraid I've already taken care of that."

_What a pretty face under that mask. _Akane's head snapped back towards the figures. Those words kept echoing in her mind. The two of them had now turned their full attention to her. A bead of sweat formed at her temple and rolled down the side of her face as fear turned into cold dread. It seeped into her flesh, paralyzing her. How had he known about the pill?

There was the sound of something ripping and then the woman stood up, scoffing. "You still owe me," she said to the other one before leaving through what sounded like a door, concealed in the far shadows of the room.

The one who remained stood up. _What a pretty face under that mask. _It was his voice, Akane realized. She had heard it before he had sent her into the darkness, back in the woods. She could not remember his face. Her eyes widened as he stepped towards her. She realized her legs were weakly pushing against the floor, instinctively trying to keep him at a distance. Her back was up against a wall, however.

"It's alright," he said. A drop of venom in a pot of honey is how she would have described that voice. It frightened her down to her core. "Such a pretty face..." he mused. "I promise I won't hurt it." Then he stepped into the light.

Her brother had used shadows in the form of monsters to scare her. However, growing up as a shinobi, she had realized that the real monsters were the ones who hid behind human faces.


	4. Dark Wings

**Chapter 4 – Dark Wings**

Itachi was sitting sideways on his bed, his back against the wall. The curtains were almost fully drawn over the window, allowing for a single shaft of sunlight to enter his room. He watched dust motes swirl lazily in its light. There was nothing for him to do but wait, and that was what he had been doing for the past two days. Mostly. In between writing reports and hospital visits.

Tsume, at least, had recovered, although she had lost some of her cheer along the way. Whatever she had seen in her unconscious state had left a cut, just like any blade. However, it was not the sort of cut healing chakra could do anything about. Kuromaru was still in Hana's care and she was optimistic about his progress towards recovery so far, despite it being slow.

And Akane… Before setting off back towards Konoha, Itachi had sent a message to the Hokage, informing him of what had transpired and requesting he send out teams to pick up where they were leaving off. To try to find her. So far, there had been no word from them. For all his patience, Itachi found the waiting harder to bear with every hour that passed.

A knock at the door took him by surprise. He had been so lost in thought he had not noticed anyone approaching his room. "Come in," he said.

Sasuke's head popped in from behind the door, then the rest of him walked in. He had been gone with his team for a few days to brush up on their survival skills in between D-ranked missions. After three days of camping in the woods, providing their own food, and listening to Naruto whine and watching him fail at existing, Sasuke's patience was worn thin. "What are you doing, _aniki_?" he asked. "First you leave without saying goodbye and then you return and say nothing, again. I had to find out you were back from _okaa-san_."

Itachi looked up at his little brother, who stopped, taken aback by the look on his _aniki's _face. "What's the matter, Itachi?" Sasuke asked, feeling disarmed by the state his brother was in.

Itachi shook his head and smiled softly. "It's nothing. You're right," he said. "I'm sorry, _otouto._" He motioned for his brother to come sit beside him. After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke obliged. He did not think he had ever seen his older brother so unsettled. Tired, yes, most of the time. But not like this. Itachi almost looked as if he were in pain.

"It's not nothing. What happened?" Sasuke asked again as he sat down on the bed. His curiosity was now mingling with honest concern.

As much as Itachi felt the need to talk to someone, he was not allowed to, and Sasuke knew that. He reminded him of it with a pointed look. To his surprise, Sasuke brushed it off with a shake of his head instead of shrugging it off and changing the subject, like he usually did. "Don't give me that," he said. "I know you're not supposed to talk about work. I didn't ask for specifics. You can be as vague as you need to." _Just get it out of your system, already,_ he thought, growing irritated. He was not used to seeing his brother look so… human. _It's poisoning you._

Itachi hesitated. Ever since he had become a shinobi, he had tried to protect Sasuke from the harsh realities of the shinobi life. Even more so since he had joined the ANBU. There was a darkness associated with his line of work, a darkness which he himself sometimes feared would one day swallow him whole. He had never wanted Sasuke to know of his failures, nor of his pain.

_I lost a teammate. _The words had almost come out against his will when something tapped against Itachi's window, stopping him. He leaped to his feet instantly and rushed to the window to open it. There was not a crow on the sill this time, but a small monkey with a serious face: the Hokage's own summon. Sasuke had stood up, curious as to what was happening, since his view of the sill was blocked by the curtains. Itachi turned around and gently poked him in the forehead, catching him unawares once more. "Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time," he said.

Before Sasuke could protest, Itachi jumped onto the window sill and vanished. There was a knock at the door behind Sasuke and he pulled it open rather abruptly in his anger over being left there, hanging. Again. Mikoto was standing in the hallway, surprised to see Sasuke opening the door to Itachi's room, and with such an expression on his face. "Sasuke? Are you alright?" she asked. "Where's your brother?"

"Gone," was the reply, curt and cold. Then Sasuke rushed past his mother down the hallway to his room and slammed the door. There was a rift between him and Itachi, deepening, and Itachi had raised a wall on his side. Sasuke could see no way through to his older brother, and he was getting tired of throwing himself at that wall and banging his head against it. Perhaps it was time to cut himself loose.

* * *

Itachi had never run faster in his life, nor had he ever arrived at the Hokage's headquarters quite so breathless. He slowed his pace as he ran through the building, but he did not stop to catch his breath. People became a blur of faces and voices as he rushed past them. The stairs seemed never-ending. The Hokage's office was on the last floor.

Even though Itachi was not in his uniform, one of the ANBU stationed at the door saluted him, deeming it safe given that no one else was around. Itachi acknowledged him with a curt nod. "You can go in, Uchiha-san," the ANBU said. "Hokage-sama is expecting you."

Itachi pushed open the door and walked into Hiruzen Sarutobi's office. He could feel his heart beating fast, and pushed away the thought that it may have been for other reasons than his mad dash through the city. Any news was better than no news, he told himself. But the Hokage's grave expression caused him to halt in his tracks.

"Sit, Itachi," Hiruzen said, gesturing towards the chair at the desk, across from himself. Itachi did as he was bid. His mouth and throat felt dry. The Hokage crossed his fingers in front of his chin and closed his eyes for a brief moment before speaking. "I'm afraid the teams I sent have found no trace of Akane Nara."

A numbness began to spread through Itachi's facial muscles. He always found it easier to control his facial expressions when instead of straining against them, he allowed his muscles to relax completely. He wished that same numbness could seep into his heart. Too much time had passed already. If she had not been found by now, odds were Akane was already dead.

"The tracks they found, leading away from where you battled, disappeared after less than a mile. I'm told they appeared to be heading for the border, towards the Country of Waterfalls." Itachi nodded in assent, but the Hokage was not finished. "I've called off the search, Itachi."

Surprise fought its way through the numbness and surfaced on Itachi's face. He found himself powerless to stop it. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out and the Hokage beat him to it. "They may have crossed the border already and if so, she is lost to us. Besides, your numbers are few as it is. Konoha's ANBU teams are spread out thin."

Itachi's lips closed and formed a thin line. Kakashi's words came back to haunt him from memories of a distant time. _In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are garbage… but those who abandon their comrades are worse than garbage. _He flexed his fingers and realized his hands were cold and clammy. There was a dull pain in the back of his throat, like the words that had gotten stuck there were now inflaming the tissue itself. The claw-like tension in his chest was a feeling named guilt. _I'm sorry, Akane. I failed you._

"I have temporarily appointed Shisui to your team," Hiruzen said. The sound of his best friend's name did little to stifle the horrible feeling coiling in Itachi's chest. The Hokage had considerately left some words unspoken, but it made no difference. Itachi could almost hear them in the old man's thoughts, lingering on the tip of his tongue. _Until a suitable replacement for Akane is found. _After all, Shisui was no medic-nin.

"I understand," Itachi said, deadpan. Then, he stood up and started walking towards the door, despite not having been dismissed yet. "Itachi," the Hokage said, making him pause. "I'm sorry." So was Itachi. It changed nothing. He pushed down on the knob and left without another word.

Konoha was basking in the glow of the afternoon sun. Itachi stopped on the stone steps outside the building, not quite certain where to go. He was feeling out of place and out of sorts. He found himself turning right to make for the ANBU headquarters. _When in doubt, train._ He was not sure where he had heard those words, but they sounded right. He was going to take refuge in that small piece of shinobi wisdom. Shinobi suppressed their emotions all the time, and what better way to do so than by honing one's skills?

It was not until he had changed into his uniform and made it to the ANBU training grounds that Itachi realized he had no motivation to train whatsoever. The kunai and shuriken which he usually wielded as if they were extensions of himself felt wrong in his hands today. _I should have gone after her alone,_ a small voice at the back of his mind said. But he had a had a duty towards the rest of his team, as well – to see them safely back home. Then why did his heart feel torn?

Itachi formed a seal, and two clones appeared to his right and left. From his pocket, he took out rolls of wire, which he handed to his clones. Then he started counting and launched himself into the most mind-consuming thing he could think of. The set-up up of the trees was not identical, so he had to adapt, but even so, when he finished and stopped counting, he was not pleased. It had taken him three minutes longer to recreate it.

Someone whistled behind him. Itachi looked over his shoulder and saw Shisui standing behind him, looking up at his work, sharingan ablaze. "That's quite the death trap, Itachi. I'd hate to be the one to get caught in it. I didn't take you for a sadist, though."

"It's not my design. I recreated it."

"I was only joking," Shisui said, patting his friend's shoulder. "Is this it, then? Kirigakure no Juri's trap?"

"One of them," Itachi said. "How much do you know already?"

Shisui shrugged. "I've read all the reports, all the way from the beginning. They've piled up at an alarming rate in such a short time." Indeed, it had been little over a week since Itachi's team had been assigned to conduct this investigation. "Your personal reports made a particularly interesting read," Shisui said with a sly smile. "But I think you forgot to jot down some things."

Itachi sighed. Shisui had always had the unnerving ability to see right through him. What he had meant was "I know you withheld information". There was no point in denying it, now that he had somehow figured it out. "It's pure speculation," Itachi said in his defense. He could trust Shisui with this, so he explained. "An idea Akane had while investigating one of the bodies. She thought the damage was similar to the effects of the Hyuugas' Gentle Fist."

Shisui sat on a rock, looking pensive. "Did you believe her?"

The question puzzled Itachi. Whereas he was an open book to Shisui, he could not say the opposite was true. "Of course I did. I trust her judgement in such matters. I didn't mention it in my report because I don't have proof. She herself said it would be impossible to determine the truth of it without a Byakugan to see whether the _tenketsu_ had taken damage."

"You could have gotten the proof," Shisui said matter-of-factly. Itachi held his tongue, knowing he had been cornered. "The _ninken_ took a similar blow and he is alive. You could have asked a Hyuuga to take a look at him and determine the truth, but you haven't. What you were really afraid of, Itachi, was offending the Hyuugas."

"You have to admit this is a rather delicate situation," Itachi said, even as guilt coiled tighter in his stomach.

Shisui nodded in agreement. "But at the same time," he said, "here's the problem. The investigation is at a standstill because you wouldn't verify this information. Knowing one's enemy is of the utmost importance. If there is a Hyuuga on the loose out there, Konoha needs to know, and I should think Konoha's interests are more important than one clan's pride. I also believe your teammate was right."

Itachi waited for Shisui to gather his thoughts and explain how he had come to agree, which he did. "I thought about the Byakugan myself while reading about your encounter with Juri," he said. "The mist concealment jutsu she used was more advanced than what your usual Kiri-nin employ. You mentioned it affected sound and threw off the _ninken_'s sense of smell. The basic mist concealment jutsu doesn't do that. But here's the thing: all of the enemy's senses should have been affected in equal measure. Their attacks seem to suggest otherwise. They knew exactly where each of you was and struck accordingly."

"I noticed it too. At the time, it reinforced my belief that we were, indeed, facing an enemy who possessed the Byakugan." _Yet I have done nothing about it._ "You're right," he continued before Shisui could further chide him. "I should have acted. I will correct my mistake."

Shisui nodded in acknowledgement. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Itachi. Mistakes make us human. Learning from them is how we grow." He paused for a moment, seemingly hesitating. "I'm sorry about Akane-san."

Itachi appreciated the sentiment, even though he did not quite know how to respond. He sat on the rock, beside Shisui, looking up at the recreated trap. The wires glinted wickedly in the light. "In four years as captain, I have never lost a teammate," he said in a low voice. The words came out reluctantly - so unused he was to sharing his thoughts - but they came out nonetheless. "I can't help but see it as a personal failure," he admitted.

"You did what you had to," Shisui said. "It's not always easy, Itachi."

Itachi's eyes were drawn up from the tall wire trap to something moving above it. It was a bird, flying haphazardly, barely holding itself in the air. He watched it head towards the ground in an irregular spiral. Something about it caused him to stand up from the rock. His sharingan activated before he had even thought about it and it seared his eyes like wild fire, making him shut them out of reflex. He heard the flutter of wings and forced himself to look. The small, ragged crow veered unsteadily, bumped into a tree and fell on the ground.

Itachi rushed to it, unable to believe his burning eyes. He picked up the crow and cradled it lightly in one hand. There was no message strapped to its foot, but he was certain. It was Akane's summon. "Shisui, water, please," he said. Shisui approached and poured water into the bottlecap, then offered it to the bird, who drank deeply.

"This is barely even a fledgling," Itachi said, watching the crow as it quenched its thirst. Akane must have been in a bad shape to summon a bird so young. "And it seems to have travelled for a long time." As soon as it had had its fill, the bird jumped to its feet, looked at Itachi and took flight to a tree on the other side of the wire trap. There, it cawed expectantly, ruffling its feathers as it waited.

"This could be a trap," Shisui said, correctly reading Itachi's intentions once again.

Itachi could not deny having considered it for a brief moment. His mind had been trained since childhood to think in this particular way, constantly assessing and reassessing the risks in any given situation. However, Akane Nara was no traitor. The woman he knew would have rather died than dance to her captors' tune, and a medic-nin in a pinch could, no doubt, get very creative about suicide. He had abandoned her once. He would not squander the chance to make up for it.

"I'm going," he said.

"You don't have permission to leave the village. You'll be branded as a missing-nin," Shisui argued half-heartedly, knowing from Itachi's tone that his mind was made up and there was little he could do about it.

"I don't have time to get permission." Itachi was already putting the ANBU mask on his face. Up in the tree, the little crow cawed again, growing agitated. "Explain the situation to Hokage-sama for me, please."

"I won't be able to," Shisui said with a smirk. "Because I'm coming with you."

"Out of the question."

"Shall we waste more time arguing here or would you rather get going? We can argue on the way."

Itachi sighed and leaped up to the trees. The crow took flight at once, with a series of cackling caws. The two shinobi followed, adjusting their pace to its flight. "I wish you would stay," Itachi told Shisui. "I'm your captain now. Going by myself will get me into less trouble than if I drag you into this, as well."

"I'm not coming as your teammate; I'm coming as your friend. Besides, they can't kick us both out. We're the best the Uchiha clan has to offer." Shisui looked at him and smiled. "Don't worry, Itachi. I'll send Hokage-sama word of our endeavor as soon as we're out those gates. If he sends people to stop us, they won't be able to catch up with us anymore."

Itachi nodded.

They travelled all night. From time to time, the little crow stopped for a drink of water and to catch its breath. When the two shinobi had taken advantage of one of the breaks to pop some food pills, the bird had pecked at one, too. But by dawn it was becoming clear to Itachi that it would not last much longer. The stops became more frequent. Its feathers were in complete disarray. It eventually stopped drinking water.

Although they now had a general sense of the direction it was leading them in (and it was most certainly not towards the border with the Country of Waterfalls), Itachi feared exhaustion would force the summon to return to its realm prematurely, leaving them in the dark about Akane's location. Still, all he could do was hope. And run.

Dawn came. _Just a little longer,_ Itachi thought, looking at the black bird zooming through the branches of the trees. Its flight path was becoming increasingly hectic again. _Last for just a little longer, please._ He himself could feel the tension in his muscles slowly turning into pain from the effort. He could not even begin to fathom the effort the crow had made, having already travelled the distance once.

Then it happened. The little crow cawed once, pulled in its wings and vanished in a puff of smoke. Itachi and Shisui stopped on a branch, breathless. The sun had risen. Its golden light, filtered through the canopy, dappled their faces. Itachi straightened his back, even as a sinking feeling in his stomach seemed to be pulling his body down. Although he had been mentally preparing himself for the inevitable, part of him had still clung to a faint thread of hope. That part now tasted bitter disappointment.

Neither of them said a word as they caught their breath. Then Itachi saw Shisui flex his knees and jump up, onto the higher branches. He was going to scout the area, he realized, and followed him.

From the top of the tree, the forest seemed endless behind them. Less than a mile ahead, however, it ended abruptly. From there on, the terrain changed to grassy hills. Shisui pointed at something in the distance. "There," he said. Itachi's sharingan was inactive and he could not see, so he channeled chakra into his eyes to rectify that. It seared like red-hot iron was being driven through them and he could not stop a hiss from escaping through his teeth.

Shisui frowned. "Something wrong with your sharingan?" he asked. Itachi shook his head. Shisui did not buy it, but he would deal with it in due time. He pointed again, and this time, Itachi saw it. There was a small building at the top of a hill in the distance, resembling a shrine of some sort. "It's in the direction we were going," Shisui said. "We might as well investigate it."

Itachi agreed, and they set out at once. From the looks of it, they still had a couple more miles to cover. "Now how about you tell me what happened?" Shisui asked as they jumped from branch to branch.

"It started when I got that flash bomb thrown in my face," Itachi said. "My sharingan has felt… uncomfortable ever since."

Shisui frowned with concern. "I've never heard of anything like this, but I don't like the sound of it. You should get it checked out – the sooner, the better."

"I don't know if there is a medic in Konoha who would know the sharingan well enough… or whom I would trust. Uchihas are respected in Konoha, but not very well liked."

"I haven't noticed," Shisui jested. "You don't think it has anything to do with most of our clansmen being arrogant pricks, do you?" Itachi found himself chuckling. He realized he was glad Shisui had insisted on coming with him. More than anything, Itachi had missed spending time with his closest friend. Shisui had a way of taking things off his mind. It was comforting.

Once outside the woods, the two shinobi sped up their pace. As they were getting closer to the building they had seen from the treetop, Itachi noticed it was indeed a shrine, but judging by its state, it had been abandoned for years. There were holes in the roof, and although the walls were still in place, there were deep cracks zigzagging all over them. They approached cautiously, though neither of them could sense any chakra signature.

Itachi was the first to step inside through the door, which had been left ajar. He instantly melded with the shadows, but the space was empty. He went to the hole in the floor, where he noticed a fire had been made, but the ashes were a few days old.

Then he raised his eyes and noticed a familiar pattern of red clouds on black lying in the back of the room.


	5. A Nara's Shadow

**A fair warning to you, who have made it this far: things are about to get darker. It's non-explicit, but the topic is a sensitive one. Know that I have and will do my best to be considerate and treat the subject with respect. I've tried to make this story as realistic as possible, given the universe, and this is the line I walk. Walk with me at your own peril. **

**Chapter 5 – A Nara's Shadow**

Itachi stared at the discarded cloak at the far end of the room. The first thing which crossed his mind was how out of place it seemed. So far, their enemies had proven quite elusive, despite ranging from negligent to misleading in covering their tracks. For them to leave behind such a telltale item made him instantly suspicious. _A trap? _But just as he formulated the thought, his body froze.

He could have sworn he had seen the cloak move ever so slightly. It was Shisui who stepped forward first, quiet as a shadow. Then his friend suddenly threw all caution to the wind and was on his knees beside it in two strides, placing his hand on the cloak instead of his blade. There seemed to be a solid shape under the fabric, and it took Itachi a moment to understand. When realization hit him, it felt like a bucket of ice-cold water. He rushed to Shisui's side. _Alive? Dead? Did we get here too late?_

Against the black cloak covering her body, Akane's face seemed bloodless. Itachi had never seen her so pale. No wonder they had sensed no chakra signature from outside the shrine. Her chakra reserves were so low, he could barely sense it now, close as he was. Her face bore not a single mark, but Itachi's stomach cringed when his eyes fell on the dark, hand-shaped bruise on her neck.

When Shisui reached out towards that bruise, Itachi tensed, only to relax when two of his friend's fingers came to rest gently on Akane's neck in search of a pulse. "She's cold," he said after a few moments. "Must have lost a lot of blood. The pulse is weak, but seems stable. She must have managed to stop the bleeding herself before falling unconscious." Shisui pulled the cloak away and for the first time in four years, Itachi turned his head, shying away from her naked body. "I see no wounds, only bruises."

"Internal bleeding," Itachi said. "Just like the others." _The others are dead, _a voice whispered from the dark corners of his mind.

"Either way, we need to get her to a hospital as soon as possible," Shisui said. He wrapped her up in the cloak, hoisted her up onto his back and secured her by slipping his arms under her thighs. "We'll take turns carrying her. Come on."

The way back was a blur. An ANBU captain himself, Shisui had easily taken the reins as Itachi had withdrawn into himself. He did not blame the younger Uchiha for it. While his head had been in the right place regarding the investigation, this had hit too close to home. If anything, Shisui was relieved to see his cousin still retained his humanity. After years of service, many ANBU members found themselves unable to empathize with people anymore. _ANBU makes us or breaks us,_ he thought idly.

He could feel the young woman's breath on his neck, fast and shallow. It remained to be seen what the ANBU would make of her. For now, she seemed to still have some fight left in her. Shisui was determined to honor that. In spite of her added weight and the tiredness of having been on the run all night, he pushed chakra into his legs and sped up.

* * *

The shadows were growing around them by the time they rushed through the gates of Konoha. Both Itachi and Shisui were haggard and breathless, having pushed themselves to the limit in a race against time. Itachi secured his grip on Akane, who had not stirred once during the journey. His legs protested as he forced chakra into them. _Hang on,_ he thought. _We're almost there. _He did not know whether the thought was directed at Akane or himself. Perhaps both.

The hospital was quiet at that hour. Nurses were settling into the beginning of their shift after the change, doctors were taking the time to catch up on their studies or research, and patients were settling in for the night's sleep. When two ANBU barged in through the doors with an unconscious woman wrapped in a strange cloak in tow, the staff knew they had their work cut out for them and braced themselves for the worst. Recognizing their fellow medic-nin only added to their agitation.

It was his back's turn to protest when they relieved him of Akane's weight, and Itachi barely managed to straighten himself back up on unsteady feet. He caught a glimpse of his teammate as she was gently laid down on a stretcher before they rushed her away, buzzing around her like bees. He thought Akane's eyes had opened slightly and that she had looked at him, but he could not be certain. It was out of his hands now. The next part would be even harder, knowing there was nothing else to do but wait.

Shisui plopped down onto a sofa in the waiting room, his chest still heaving as he drew thirsty breaths of air. Itachi joined him. He sat in a chair, wondering if his legs would be able to hold his weight again when he got up. He removed his mask briefly to wipe the sweat from his face, given that no one was around.

"Go home," Shisui said after a while, when the two of them had managed to catch their breath and let the pain settle in their overworked muscles. "I'll stay," he added.

Itachi shook his head. "No," he said.

"You've had a longer week, and most likely a lot less sleep than me. You're at your limit, Itachi."

"Even so, I can't."

Shisui smiled under his ANBU mask and said nothing more. The two of them looked like dark ghosts in the stark white waiting room. There was a clock on the wall to their left, and its constant ticking filled the room, adding to the strain. They counted the minutes as hours passed, unchecked. By the time someone came to speak to them, half the night had passed. However, their agonizing wait was at an end.

He had thought Itachi to be asleep when a medic-nin finally came into the waiting room, leafing through the papers on his clipboard. Shisui was surprised, however, when his friend jumped to his feet in an instant.

"Are you Nara-san's superior officer?" the medic asked Itachi.

"_Hai._"

Itachi followed the man outside the waiting room, into the hallway. Shisui listened to their hushed conversation, but could only hear snippets of it. He strained to hear until he made out that she would recover, and that was enough for him. He willingly shut out the rest of their discussion. This was confidential information which he had no business nosing into. Besides, he had gleaned more than enough from the state they had found her in. He did not envy Itachi's position at the moment – he himself could not have borne to listen to the medical report.

When Itachi came into back into the waiting room, he looked as if the weight of the world had been placed upon his shoulders. Shisui's sharingan could not see through the mask on his face, but it could assess his body language, and right now it was speaking volumes.

"She'll live," Itachi said. "They expect her to wake up within a couple of days."

Shisui pretended not to notice the undercurrent of emotion that made Itachi's voice waver. _She'll live, yes,_ he thought darkly, _but she'll never be the same._ Something told him the thought had crossed Itachi's mind, too.

* * *

Itachi stumbled into the dark hallway of his home. His eyes were half-closed from exhaustion. He took off his sandals and walked through the quiet house. The hour was late and his family was most likely asleep.

Itachi's feet made no sound as he walked towards his room. His muscles were screaming with pain by now. He paused in front of Sasuke's room, vacillating. His hand reached for the knob and turned it soundlessly. He saw his little brother's form huddled under the covers, fast asleep. It made him smile. Sasuke would no doubt be upset with him for leaving like that the other day. Knowing him safe was all Itachi cared about, however.

He shut the door back quietly and dragged his feet further up the hall, to his own room. There were often times when he spent more days away on missions than at home. His room was almost as impersonal as Sasuke's given how little time he spent in it. The thought amused him, for some reason. He had never thought of the two of them being alike in any way. His eyes fell on a photo of him and Shisui. Had Shisui not insisted on coming with him, Itachi did not think he would have made it back with Akane in time.

An image of her, naked and bruised under that accursed robe, flashed in his mind and he pushed it away, refusing to see. If he had gone after her then, perhaps he could have prevented this. A different kind of pain surfaced, adding to the one racking his body. While rest would take care of the latter, there was nothing he could do about the former.

* * *

When Itachi opened his eyes, his room was suffused in quiet semi-obscurity. The sliver of sky he could see through the window was painted in shades of lilac and pink. Dawn. He was surprised at how rested he felt, after only a couple of hours of sleep. His body screamed as he forced himself out of bed, but the first few steps were the most painful. What Itachi needed to take care of at the moment was the hunger gnawing at his stomach.

He made his way towards the kitchen as quietly as he had arrived in the night, not knowing whether anyone was still asleep. His mother and father were early risers, but Sasuke sometimes liked to sleep in. Therefore, Itachi was more than surprised to find them all at the dining table, enjoying what appeared to be dinner.

"Itachi!" his mother exclaimed, as surprised as him. "I didn't know you were at home!"

Sasuke glared at him. The plate before him was empty, so he pushed himself away from the table, thanked for the meal and left the room before Itachi even had time to understand what was going on. When it dawned on him, he froze.

"What time is it?" he asked. "What day?"

Mikoto appeared slightly confused, but answered his questions. Itachi was stupefied to learn that he had slept for almost two days, and that it was not morning, but evening. He turned on his heels and was about to leave for the hospital when his mother stood up and called out for him.

"Itachi! Won't you please stay and eat something before you go?" It was the concern in her voice which caused him to relent. As the mother of an ANBU member, she had enough to worry about as it was. He did not wish to add to that.

Sitting at the table and quickly filling the plate his mother brought, Itachi noticed his father looking at him. His scrutinizing gaze had always made him feel slightly uncomfortable, though he had never let it show. He inwardly braced himself for the question he knew was coming. "What's going on with you, Itachi?" Fugaku asked. "You've been acting strange this past week."

"It's just a mission," Itachi said, maintaining his composure. His father's interrogation was the last thing he needed at the moment, and Konoha's chief of police was not one to give in easily.

"It must be a difficult one," his father said. "I've never seen you so out of sorts."

"Forgive me, father. You know I'm not allowed to discuss this."

Fugaku watched him quietly for a few moments, then his eyes fell into the steaming cup of tea he was holding. "Don't let it affect your performance," he said. "We must all do our best to uphold this clan's reputation."

"Fugaku!" Mikoto chided him, but it was too late. Itachi gritted his teeth. The few bits of food he had managed to swallow now hung heavily in his stomach, making him queasy. He did not feel like he could stomach another bite. He nodded to his father in acknowledgement of his words, thanked his mother for the meal and left the table. "You're too hard on them both," Itachi heard his mother say to his father as he was putting on his sandals.

The sun had set by the time Itachi made it to the hospital. He still could not believe he had slept for so long, and was apprehensive of what might have happened while he had been dead to the world. The young nurse at the front desk greeted him politely as he approached.

"How may I help you?" she asked, tugging a lock of hair behind her ear.

"I'm here to see Tsume Inuzuka and Akane Nara," he said.

"One moment, please," the woman said, turning to a ledger. She hummed softly as her finger ran down the page across a list of names. "Inuzuka-san has been discharged. Today, actually. And Nara-san…" she trailed off, briefly resuming her humming as she continued to search through the names. Suddenly, she stopped humming and gave him an apologetic look. "Nara-san has had quite a few visitors today, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until tomorrow. She needs her rest."

Itachi frowned. Akane's parents were both dead. The closest family she had left were her brother and uncle. "Who visited her?" he asked.

"I'm not at liberty to-" the nurse began, but Itachi shifted his position and lifted his left sleeve. Her eyes fell on the ANBU tattoo on his arm and she blushed, then cleared her throat. "I see. Well, there was her brother, Enki Nara, who visited her twice today, her uncle and cousin, and a man named…" She trailed off as her eyes darted back to the ledger. "Ibiki Morino."

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the sound of that last name. So, he had failed to submit a formal report and Ibiki had already come sniffing around like a bloodhound. He felt a surge of anger. Ibiki Morino was the last person in Konoha who should have been allowed to speak to Akane. More than that, he had overstepped his boundaries by doing so. Akane only reported to himself or the Hokage. No one else.

"I need to see her," Itachi said, and his tone left no room for argument. The nurse looked at him, the blush on her cheeks spreading. She was hesitating. For a moment, it crossed his mind to put her in a genjutsu, but then his father's words echoed in his mind and he felt guilty for even considering it. He was letting his emotions get the better of him. "Please," he added. "It's urgent."

The nurse sighed and picked up a pen. "Would you tell me your name, please?"

"Itachi Uchiha."

The nurse grew even more flustered. "Nara-san is in room 202. Right down this hallway, on the left side."

Itachi thanked her and walked down the hallway, looking at the number tags on the doors. When he found himself standing in front of the door to room 202, he hesitated. Ibiki was a difficult man to say no to. What had she told him? His hand reached for the knob and pushed open the door.

Akane was sitting in bed, reclined against her pillow, looking outside the window. When she heard him, she turned her head and looked at him. Itachi closed the door and leaned against it, unable to break eye contact. Her long, dark hair was hanging down her back instead of its usual high ponytail. Although some color had returned to her face, it was still pale, by contrast. The grey eyes that held his were red-rimmed and the lashes still wet. She had been crying.

"Hey," he said, barely managing to rip that one word out of his throat at the sight of her. In four years, he had never seen this woman cry. She prided herself in being a Nara, in being a kunoichi, in having made it into the ANBU. He had not once seen her so vulnerable. She had never allowed it.

"Hey," she replied evenly. The silence between them stretched for a few moments. "I hear two of you brought me back," Akane said eventually, as Itachi seemed to be at a loss for words. "So, thank you and… Tenzo, I assume?"

"My cousin, Shisui, actually," Itachi said. He convinced his legs to move and pulled up a chair beside her bed. She watched him through guarded eyes, remaining perfectly still while he settled down. "I'll give him your regards. I hear Ibiki paid you a visit," he added cautiously.

Akane scoffed, a weary smile playing on her lips. "Empty-handed. Just like he left," she said. So, she had told him nothing. It came as both a pleasant surprise and a relief. Then, it suddenly occurred to Itachi that he had not brought flowers himself, as was customary when visiting someone at the hospital. The flower shop would have been closed, but he still could have picked some wildflowers.

"I'm sorry, Akane," Itachi said. "I should have visited sooner, but I…" he trailed off, ransacking his brains for words that would not make him seem like the idiot he was feeling. In the end, the truth rolled out of his mouth smoother than any lie. After everything she had gone through, he did not have it in him to lie to her face. "I overslept."

The notion seemed to amuse her. "That's a first. Don't worry, prodigy, I won't tell anyone. And speaking of that…" Akane trailed off, then turned and pulled something out from behind her pillow.

Itachi was surprised to see a brown paper dossier, which she handed to him without a word. His eyes skimmed the cover, confused. This was someone's personal file. The first question which crossed his mind was how (although he had a hunch). The second was why. Then he noticed the name and his breath hitched in his throat. _Hyuuga… Suisen?_ There was a photo attached to the front of the dossier with a paper clip, but it had been turned over. He moved his hand to look at it.

"Not here," Akane suddenly snapped. Itachi looked up at her, taken aback by the tremor in her voice. Her arms, one of which was in a sling, had drawn around herself protectively. Her eyes were wide open now, her facial expression unchecked: a mixture of fear and revulsion. Itachi realized why the photo had been turned.

"I apologize," he said. "May I ask how you got this?"

Akane took a deep breath. She was holding herself together by the seams, but fraying at the edges. She was trying to recompose herself before speaking, he noted. "My brother sometimes pays his debts," she said.

Enki Nara was ten years her senior. Around the time Akane had joined the ANBU, he had given up the shinobi life for a comfortable job at the archives. Itachi knew he often borrowed money from his sister, given that his salary was not high enough to keep up with his gambling debts.

"Since I'm currently unable to write a report," she continued, making a small gesture towards her dominant hand, which was the one in the sling, "I thought I'd give you this instead."

Itachi turned over the dossier. "Akane, you don't have to write anything," he said. He could not believe this woman. Within two days since being brought to the hospital unconscious after her ordeal, she had pulled strings from her hospital bed to procure her assailant's personal file. There it was again: that cold, calculated efficiency which had always perturbed him to some extent. The woman in her was breaking apart, but Akane was a shinobi first.

Itachi sighed, then stood up from the chair and put it back in its place. She was starting to look tired and her gaze had grown dark. "Please try to rest," he said. "I'll keep Ibiki off your back."

"Good night, Itachi," she replied, her voice somewhat weakened.

The moment the door to her room closed behind him, Itachi lifted the paper dossier. He was tempted to turn the photo to finally have a look at Juri's partner. His hand was already moving towards it when a stifled sob came from behind. Itachi gritted his teeth and stopped. _Not here_, he echoed her words, full of bitterness. He tucked the dossier under his arm and walked away.

Konoha had grown quiet during his visit at the hospital. Hardly a handful of people passed by him as he made his way back home, deep in thought. There were a few things he had learned since his encounter with the enemy, and he wagered there was more in the dossier he could use. However, the fact that one of them was, indeed, a Hyuuga weighed on his mind the most. How had this happened? As far as he knew, there were no members of the Hyuuga clan unaccounted for, running amok outside Konoha. A bad apple from an important clan would have gained a lot of attention - only this one had not. Itachi could not wait to find out how this had come to be.

* * *

It was not until he had quietly retired to the privacy of his room that Itachi turned the dossier over. The back of the photo clipped to the top was glaringly white. Looking at it, he could hear Akane's pained words in his head. _Not here._ He hesitated for a moment before turning it over. The face looking back at him was that of a teenager with a pale, serious face and long, brown hair. Even without the name written on the file, Itachi would have known him for a Hyuuga by the eyes.

Itachi sighed and opened the dossier. Slowly, his eyes began to widen as he read. His date of birth placed him at thirty years of age. He was a member of the Hyuuga clan's branch house, born almost twelve years apart from the heir, Hiashi. He had become a genin at 9. A chuunin, only a year later. At 13, he had joined the ANBU. _He was one of us_, Itachi thought. His hands started to tremble ever so slightly. _He knows how we move. He knows how we think._ _He knows all our tactics. _No wonder he had been able to take them apart with such efficiency.

Itachi was staggered. Suisen Hyuuga. How had he not heard his name before? He skimmed through the dossier, looking for answers. There were activity reports, mission reports, medical files and regular performance reports, but so far, nothing to enlighten him. Nothing to shed light on why he had not been flagged as a missing-nin.

And then he came across a yellowing piece of paper that drew his attention. It was a 14-year old report on an investigation conducted into the deaths of the members of ANBU team 4. They had been found dead near the border, on their way back from a mission. The investigation had concluded that the incident appeared to have been an ambush by Kumo-nin.

Itachi put the dossier down, rubbing his temples. Suisen Hyuuga had been listed as dead among the rest of the members of his team.


	6. Tiger by the Tail

**Chapter 6 – Tiger by the Tail**

Shisui yawned as he pulled on a shirt, although he would have rather not worn one at all. His house had not cooled much during the night, and the morning sun bursting in through the windows promised no respite from the heat. If it went on for much longer, he thought, this would be recorded as the hottest summer in living memory. He splashed cold water on his face and ran a wet hand through his unruly hair before stepping outside to begin his day.

He was not surprised to find Itachi waiting for him on the porch. "I figured you'd be up and about by now," Shisui said, greeting his friend with a smile.

"Care to join me for a walk?" Itachi asked.

He was holding someone's personal file, Shisui noted. "I let you rest, and you still find ways to deny yourself even that," he tutted, then sighed, growing serious. "I'll join you, of course. I take it you have new information?"

"_Hai,_" Itachi replied.

They settled into a leisurely pace through the Uchiha district, heading towards the wilderness beyond its walls, where they would often spend time without fear of being bothered. The cicadas were especially loud today, humming from everywhere around them, unseen. When Itachi judged that they had gotten to an adequately remote spot, he leaned against a large rock under the cool shade of a walnut tree and handed Shisui the brown folder he had been carrying.

"Akane identified the second killer," he said, unable to dub him otherwise. "She gave me this last night."

"_Last night?_" Shisui echoed as he began leafing through the files it contained. "I'm starting to understand the depths of your lengthy collaboration."

Itachi frowned. "What does that mean?"

Shisui glanced at him over the papers. "You and her are alike."

Itachi scoffed at the notion, almost immediately dismissing it as nonsense. After all, Shisui had not even met her yet. Itachi himself could not claim to know her well, beyond the ANBU fox mask. He knew _about_ her, which was different. It suddenly struck him that in four years, his team had not spent much time together, outside of missions and training. He could recall one or two occasions, at most, when Tsume had seen fit to gather them all for an evening out, but that was about it. That was all the foundation for their teamwork. _Another mistake I should correct sometime, perhaps,_ Itachi mused.

Shisui closed the file and leaned against the tree, brushing a knuckle against his chin in thought. "Things sure are getting interesting," he said, after a while.

"Noticed anything missing from there?" Itachi asked.

"The coroner's report, of course," Shisui said with a smirk. "Meaning it's either been misplaced, intentionally removed, or that there was never one to begin with. In any case, the implications are unpleasant. This guy being alive points to either a bad cover up or gross negligence."

"Before I came to your place, I went to the archives to pull out the files from the investigation. I saw the photos from the scene and he wasn't in any of them."

"So, there never was a report because there was no body to autopsy. He was only presumed dead. It sounds to me like someone didn't do their homework." Shisui tousled his hair by running his hands through it to massage his scalp. "This is why I hate cleaning up other people's mess. You never know what'll jump at you from it."

"A Hyuuga missing-nin, in this case."

"A killer," Shisui added. "And the worst kind of sadist."

Itachi closed his eyes, understanding his friend's meaning. Like him, Shisui had read into the Hyuuga's actions straight into his mindset. Akane surviving their encounter had been no mistake on Suisen's part; the most telltale piece of evidence to support this was that he had left her covered with his cloak. He had never meant to kill her, only to break her. In some ways, Juri had proven to be more lenient than her partner.

"This has gone on for long enough," Itachi said, stepping into the sunlight. "It's time Hokage-sama learned the truth."

"I'm coming with you," Shisui offered. "The two of us have some explaining to do, after all."

Itachi inwardly cringed. He had forgotten what they had done to get Akane back, and three days had passed already with not one word from them. The Hokage would not be pleased with either of them, having most certainly been informed of their exploits. Itachi sighed and mentally prepared himself for the repercussions. He could almost hear his father again. _Don't let it affect your performance. _At times like this, Itachi found himself envying Shisui for living alone.

Some things, however, could not be avoided.

* * *

The Hokage was surveying Konoha from his office's balcony when Itachi and Shisui walked in. Hiruzen glanced at them over his shoulder, drew from his pipe and blew the smoke into the shy breeze. "I was wondering when you two would show up," the old man said, fully turning to face them. "This is not what I had in mind when I assigned you to Itachi's team, Shisui," he added.

At that, Shisui stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, I take full responsibility for-"

But the Hokage raised one hand to silence him. He puffed out another cloud of smoke before stepping inside the office. The two young shinobi watched quietly as the old man placed his pipe on the desk and took his seat, then crossed his withered fingers in front of his face, thinking. "You are both equally responsible, I think," he said after a few moments of heavy silence. "And while I agree what matters the most is that Akane is safe now, I cannot turn a blind eye to what happened. Actions have consequences."

Itachi's dark eyes locked with Hiruzen's. The Hokage had expected to see some resistance in them, but was surprised to find only quiet acceptance. Truly, the Uchiha prodigy was wise beyond his years. Had he been a few years older, Hiruzen would have considered grooming him to become the next Hokage. The elders would have been opposed to an Uchiha claiming the title, but Itachi was unlike his clansmen. _And besides_, Hiruzen found himself thinking,_ Minato was not much older when he became the Fourth._ It was certainly a matter to be taken into further consideration, he mused, but right now there was the present situation to deal with.

"The members of team Yon are hereby forbidden to leave Konoha, until such a time as I rescind my decision." Hiruzen said. "Those of you still able will take up patrol duty within the city limits during this time."

"What of our investigation, Hokage-sama?" Itachi asked cautiously. When Hiruzen paused, he took the opportunity to continue. "We have new information we would like to bring to your attention."

Hiruzen nodded thoughtfully, approving the request. Taking his cue, Itachi placed a brown folder on his desk and stepped back. The Hokage lowered his gaze and came across the name and face of a ghost. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked calmly.

"We believe this man to be alive," Itachi said. "And one of the killers we are after."

Hiruzen sighed, his robes suddenly feeling ponderous and uncomfortable. It had been how many years? Thirteen? No, fourteen. Minato had not yet taken the title of Hokage. Konohagakure and Kumogakure were at war, two years before the attempted kidnapping of little Hinata Hyuuga. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to remember all the details. The serious face looking back at him from the photograph attached to the folder brought back memories of a tall young man in ANBU uniform, holding a _tanuki_ mask.

"They never did find Suisen Hyuuga's body," Hiruzen said gravely. "At the time, we assumed he had been taken by Kumo-nin. We even suspected _he_ had been their real objective – or rather, his Byakugan. The Hyuuga affair, which took place almost two years after his disappearance, only strengthened this belief. Are you certain he is alive?"

"Akane identified him," Itachi said. "But we had been suspecting a Byakugan user since before she was kidnapped."

"I see," the Hokage muttered. He slowly rose from his chair and turned to look through the window, hands clasped behind his back. The two Uchiha gave him the time he needed to deliberate. "You have my permission to pursue the matter in any way you deem necessary," Hiruzen said after a few moments. "As long as you remain within the village limits."

"Understood," Itachi said, inwardly relieved the Hokage had not taken the case off their hands. More so, he had given them free hand within the boundaries of Konoha. For the time being, that would suffice.

It was almost noon by the time Itachi and Shisui left the Hokage's tower, and the sun was burning hot. Shisui stopped at the top of the stairs and turned to his friend. "What now, captain?" he asked with a smirk.

"Now we need to come up with a way to approach the Hyuuga without touching their pride," Itachi said.

"Always the pacifist," Shisui interjected. "It's not like we're accusing them of anything. Yet."

Itachi shook his head. "I don't think they have a hand in this. But enough for now. I have some things I need to take care of. I'll gather the team in the afternoon at the ANBU training grounds to discuss the investigation. Wait for my summon," he said.

"_Hai, hai_," Shisui said. "Don't stay in the sun too long."

Itachi watched his friend depart, then turned right. It was not a long walk from the tower to the headquarters of Konoha's Intelligence Division, but the heat made it seem longer nonetheless. At this hour, most of the village's residents had taken refuge inside their homes or shops, and only children ran about, mindless of the thermal discomfort. Itachi was glad to be in civilian clothes instead of his layered ANBU uniform.

The temperature was considerably lower within the building which hosted the Intelligence Division. Itachi walked up to the front desk, where a young _kunoichi _with slick, blond hair sat, scribbling something in a ledger. Her amber eyes rose from the book when he approached, studying him for a moment before speaking.

"Are you lost, Uchiha?" she asked, an edge of arrogance in her voice. "The Police Headquarters are that-a-way." Yamanaka _kunoichi _were the poisonous flowers of Konoha. Beautiful to look at, but ultimately, toxic.

Itachi ignored her stings. "I'm looking for Ibiki Morino."

The Yamanaka twirled the crayon expertly between slender, pale fingers while mulling over his words. "What's your business with him?" she said, after a few moments of quiet consideration. People did not come to talk to Ibiki Morino – it was usually the other way around. This pretty boy seemed a bit too young and on the wrong side of a cell for Morino to be interested.

"That's between me and him," Itachi replied evenly. _What are you, his guard dog?_

The Yamanaka woman smirked, amused by his demeanor rather than put off. The twirling crayon stopped, then hit the desk with a snapping sound. The _kunoichi_ stood up, proving to be as tall as Itachi. "Follow me, then," she said. The blonde led him through a set of double doors into a long corridor with doors on either side. She stopped in front of a door to the right and knocked. There was a gruff reply from within and she pushed it open, stepping aside to allow Itachi to walk in. "See you around, pretty boy," she said smugly, with a flash of perfect, white teeth.

Itachi walked in, vaguely aware of the door closing behind him. Ibiki Morino was sitting behind a desk, seemingly too absorbed in reading a scroll to acknowledge his visitor. Already he was trying to push his buttons, Itachi thought. Is that why he had placed the Yamanaka woman at the front desk? To push people into lowering their mental barriers before they even came through his door? Far-fetched, but even so, he would not have put it beyond Ibiki.

Itachi straightened his back and remained still. Two could play the waiting game, if that was what Ibiki wanted. Five minutes passed in absolute silence, counted in Itachi's head second by second. Ibiki rolled up his scroll, sealed it and placed it aside, then picked up another to open. Ten more minutes passed without Ibiki paying him any attention. The one thing which bothered Itachi was that Ibiki was wasting his time with his quaint mind games. However, if that was what it took to fulfil his parting promise to Akane, so be it.

… _one thousand and twenty-three, one thousand and twenty-four, one thousand and twenty-five…_

"Very well, Uchiha," Ibiki conceded, not bothering to raise his eyes from the scroll. Itachi stopped counting the seconds. "Spit it out. This is about the Nara woman, hm?"

"Akane Nara," Itachi corrected him, keeping any hint of emotion from his voice. "You will not speak to her again. If there is something you wish to know, you ask _me_."

Ibiki finally looked up at him. He put down the scroll and leaned back into the chair, quietly considering the young man standing before him. Standing his ground. Commendable, but ultimately irrelevant. "You do know I have the authority to interrogate any shinobi who has spent time at the hands of the enemy and lived to tell the tale, don't you?" he asked.

"I also know you need Hokage-sama's written permission to do so," Itachi said, unwavering. "Next time, I would like to see that document with my own eyes before you talk to any of my teammates, Morino-san."

Ibiki smirked. Now here was an interesting character, he thought. "Don't worry, Uchiha," he said. "Your teammate is sly as a fox. I got nothing out of her." Before he had even begun cornering her into disclosing information, she had excused herself, claiming she had been given sedatives prior to his visit. At first, the woman had dodged his questions quite smoothly for someone in her predicament, seemingly lucid. Then she had started slipping under the influence of drugs, becoming groggy and increasingly confused. It was not until Ibiki saw the nurse walk into her room with the med cart, moments after he had left, that he realized he had been played for a fool. "Now," he said. "If there's nothing else, I'm sure both of us have better things to do with our time."

Itachi performed a small, perfunctory bow towards the commanding officer of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Force and left the building without another word to him, or another glance at the Yamanaka _kunoichi_ behind the front desk.

His next stop would be at the hospital, and this time he did swing by the flower shop. Armed with a single, pale pink gerbera, Itachi walked through the hospital doors, twenty minutes later. A different nurse than the one from the previous evening greeted him with a smile. "Are you here to visit someone?" she asked, eyeing the flower in his hand.

"Akane Nara-san," he said, and waited as the nurse looked her up in the patient registry. It wasn't long before she gazed back up at him, looking apologetic. Itachi felt like he was having a d_éjà _vu. _What now?_ he wondered, starting to feel irritated, in the aftermath of his encounter with Ibiki.

"I'm afraid Akane Nara-san is no longer a patient. She was discharged this morning."

Itachi needed a few moments to process the nurse's words. "Discharged?" he echoed, nonplussed. How could she have been discharged when only three days ago she'd gone through half a night's worth of surgery? No one in their right mind would have authorized this, but if Akane had outplayed Ibiki, a fellow medic-nin had not stood a chance.

He spun on his heels and walked out of the hospital before vanishing, leaving the gerbera behind. Akane lived nearby and it was the first place Itachi went to look for her. It was a small, two-bedroom house with a small alley in the front, leading up to the entrance, and a patch of green in the back. He landed on the balls of his feet at her front door and knocked several times.

There was no reply from inside.

Itachi felt his patience ebbing away like the tide. It bothered him even more to know that Ibiki's games proved to have such long-lasting effects. _Where have you gone, Akane? _he wondered, racking his brains. She could have gone to her brother's place. He could see how she may not want to be alone right now, although Akane and Enki were not on the best of terms. Unfortunately, he had no idea where Enki lived. He was considering asking at the Nara clan's quarters when Shisui's words came back to him out of the blue. _You and her are alike._

Itachi closed his eyes and sighed. _When in doubt, train._ He turned himself around and started running.

* * *

Akane stopped under the shade of a tree and placed the thermal container on the grass. ANBU's third training ground was deserted. She sat on the grass, allowing herself a few moments to enjoy the outdoors. She had been cooped up in small spaces for too long. She needed to breathe. To feel alive. _At least on the outside._

Her left arm was still in a sling, so she used the other one to open the thermal container and pull out a bag of ice. It steamed in the afternoon heat. Akane unzipped the bag and placed her right hand in the ice chips, then leaned against the tree trunk, waiting for it to have the desired effect.

Her chakra levels had been rising steadily in the past few days, but not as fast as she would have liked, so _ninjutsu_ training would have to wait a little longer. She would not even submit her body to the strain of practicing _taijutsu _yet_._ For now, Akane longed only to feel the familiar weight and comfort of a well-sharpened _kunai_ in her hand.

The skin on her right hand was beginning to burn and the flesh was growing numb. It would only be a little longer now. She stared at the sky, so brazenly blue and cloudless. The air in her room at the hospital had become unbreathable because of it. She imagined many people prayed for rain these days. _Well,_ she thought, looking down at the ice bag, _that's that._

Akane pulled out her hand from the ice: red, and numb and painful at the same time. Eyeing the target fixed on a tree in the distance, she reached into her weapon pouch and swiftly drew two kunai, one of which she threw into the air. She caught it a moment later, balancing its tip on the edge of the other one.

"Old-fashioned method, don't you think?" Itachi asked, landing on the grass, a few feet away from her. Akane started at his sudden appearance, the delicate balance between the two kunai nearly broken. She glared at him for startling her and used the momentum to throw the balanced kunai into the air again as she launched the first one towards the target. Then, with a swift move, she grabbed the kunai from the air and sent it flying after the first. They hit the target mere inches apart.

"Like you haven't used it," she said, shaking her iced hand to bring some feeling into it.

Itachi crossed his arms. His eyes stung; the sharingan had activated on its own, as it was prone to do sometimes, when strong emotions gripped the user. "Explain yourself," he said, trying to keep his anger in check. Things had been piling up lately, and while Akane somehow getting herself discharged from the hospital had been the final straw, she was still the last person he wanted to take it out on.

Akane mirrored his annoyed expression, and for a moment Itachi thought she would argue, but then her features softened. Her arms drew around herself and she scoffed, even as the sharingan caught glimpse of tears forming and being fought. "One more minute in that room," she said. "One more minute in that goddamn bed." Her voice was beginning to falter, so she finished what she had to say in one whisper. "I would have lost my mind."

The pain etched in those words disarmed him as surely as a candle extinguished by a gust of wind. Itachi found himself speechless. The ice in the bag at her feet had melted completely, and the ground had thirstily sucked all the water. Akane reached into the thermal container for another bag to shove her hand into, her face now a blank mask.

Itachi raised a thumb to his lips and bit down to draw blood, then formed the seals for the summoning jutsu. Three crows appeared. _Shisui. Tsume. Tenzo._ He watched them fly to gather them all and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "How did you convince your doctor to discharge you?" he asked, unable to help his curiosity.

Akane opened her eyes, gazing into space. "I put a knife to my throat and threatened to kill myself if he didn't." Itachi could not keep the shock from showing on his face. He wanted to believe it had been a joke, the fruit of a newly-acquired dark sense of humor… but her tone had been dead serious. "Perhaps I've already lost my mind," she added after a moment.

Itachi walked up to her and sat beside her on the grass – close enough to impart his meaning, but not to make her uncomfortable. "Akane," he said. "You're not alone."

The ghost of a smile played on her lips. "Thank you, captain."

Shisui was the first one to arrive, followed closely by Tenzo. Tsume was late even by her standards, but when she did show up, Kuromaru walked beside her, favoring a front paw. Seeing team Yon assembled in its entirety shined a light into the darkness, and Itachi reached out for it with newfound determination. Whatever may come, they would face it together.

None of them had to fight alone. Not even him.


	7. The Unseen

**Chapter 7 – The Unseen**

Itachi leaned against the fence, listening to the cicadas' hum in the background. He had always considered it a soothing sound, deeply rooted in his mental concept of summer, along with warm sunlight and long days. Although he generally found waiting tedious, he did not mind doing it in such conditions. He almost wished his teammate were not so punctual, and smiled when he heard the door open behind him. Right on time.

Itachi turned around to greet Akane, only for the sight of her to surprise the words out of him. Instead of her usual attire, she had donned a light, indigo _yukata_ with a skillfully dyed pattern of red-crowned cranes and a golden obi. She had pinned her hair at the top of her head using two _senbon _and was wearing light make-up. Stepping into the sunlight, she opened a yellow parasol.

"I thought you said dress casually," Itachi said as she stopped before him, finally having found his words again.

"The Hyuugas are traditionalists," she said. "Appearances matter to them a great deal. If we had shown up in our ANBU uniforms, they would have perceived it as a threat. If we had both dressed casually, they would not have taken us seriously. But this will work best: I'll be appealing to their sense of nobility, while your appearance will serve to remind them that it's not a courtesy visit."

Itachi listened and nodded. _Kunoichi _were well versed in social graces – more so than men. Akane had been taught from a young age how to navigate such shifty terrain. The ability to converse on a great number of subjects, manners, knowing how to dress and behave in a variety of situations – all these were things _kunoichi _studied for years, alongside the usual education of a _shinobi._ Some of them even took it a step further, learning arts like singing, dancing or _ikebana_. Indeed, some of Konoha's best infiltrators within enemy territory were women because of this slight difference in education.

Initially, however, he had been against Akane being the one to come with him.

* * *

_They sat in a circle on the grass, the shadows lengthening around them as the sun approached the horizon. Shisui had been introduced and welcomed into the fold, and they had all trained and chatted for most of the afternoon. Itachi had brought them up to date with everything they had uncovered in the meantime, and now all there was left for him to do was decide their next course of action._

"_We may be currently restricted to Konoha," Itachi began. "But there are still things we can do to move the investigation forward. I believe getting to know our enemy is our topmost priority. Given that Suisen Hyuuga was presumed dead fourteen years ago, we need to talk to the people who knew him: family, friends, former teammates, if we can track them down."_

"_Getting the Hyuugas to talk won't be easy," Tenzo said, looking thoughtful. "After all, one of their own stands accused of being a traitor to this village and a murderer."_

"_They won't have a choice," Itachi insisted. "Hokage-sama himself has authorized me to deal with this however I see fit. I'm going over to their compound tomorrow. Shisui, I'd like you to join me."_

"_Nothing spells trouble like two Uchiha showing up at your front door, unannounced," Tsume said. One of her hands was buried deep within Kuromaru's thick fur. "I'd suggest you reconsider, captain. The Hyuugas'll shut themselves tighter than a clam and faster than you can say that bastard's name." _

_Itachi paused. He had always encouraged his teammates to give voice to their reasonings, even if they differed from his own, and he could see sense in Tsume's words. He had been relying on Shisui's experience to pull them through the meeting, but she was right – them both being Uchihas would not work to their advantage, given the constant struggle over superiority between the two clans. Itachi considered his other options. Akane was in no condition for it, neither physically nor mentally. Tsume herself was too loud and unpredictable in social situations, especially one which required this level of tact. Tenzo was the only safe choice he had left._

"_I'll go."_

_Itachi looked up at Akane, taken aback. His first thought was: absolutely not. By getting herself forcefully discharged from the hospital, she had not yet been cleared for field work. Not to mention that the one who had put her in the hospital had been the very man whose past they were going to dig up. She had done more than enough by identifying him and would have to resign herself to leaving the rest in their hands. _

"_Akane," he started, but she cut him off before he had a chance to dissuade her._

"_It has to be me," she said. "I'm the only person in Konoha who has met him in the last fourteen years. I'm the only one who can use both his past and present to build an accurate profile."_

_That was true, and it was partly his fault: for not allowing her to present him with a report on what had happened. Whatever information Akane had gathered during her encounter with the enemy, she had not shared. Even so, Itachi was determined - he did not want it. However, he did not wish her to compensate for it either._

"_You've been through enough," Itachi said. _

"_No," she argued, her voice gaining a sinister edge. "I won't rest until he draws his last breath, and if this is what it takes to get him to that point, so be it." _

_The rest of team Yon had fallen silent during their argument. Even Shisui had closed his eyes, listening; whatever his opinion on the matter was, Itachi could not tell. Tsume's lips were pursed – it was a rare thing to see her holding back, he mused. Perhaps she could not decide whom to support. Itachi then looked at Tenzo, who shrugged._

"_She has a point, captain," he said. "Besides, she comes from a small, but well-respected Konoha clan. That will bear some weight in the eyes of the Hyuugas. I myself would be a nobody to them."_

"_I see," Itachi said. In any other circumstances, he would have picked Akane for this meeting without a second thought. Given the recent events, however, he was still hesitant. Akane was good at keeping up appearances, but she was unstable, to his mind. While that was too be expected from someone in her situation, he would have preferred not to risk it in such a delicate meeting._

* * *

"You're not wearing a sling anymore," Itachi noted as they were walking along the fence leading to the entry into the Hyuuga compound. "Is that alright?"

Akane smiled. "My chakra levels have been rising, so I took advantage of that and healed my shoulder this morning. I'm not done yet, but I don't have to keep my arm in the sling anymore."

"You're not giving yourself enough time," he said, allowing a hint of disapproval to slip into his voice. "Not physically and most certainly not mentally. You should be taking time off instead of putting yourself through this."

From under the edge of the yellow parasol, Itachi saw his teammate frown. "Is that an order, captain?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

Itachi sidestepped and halted, barring her way forward. "No," he said. "Right now, I'm just a friend, concerned for your newfound masochistic tendencies." Seeing the incredulous expression forming on her face in reaction to his words made Itachi wish it _had_ been an order instead of a heartfelt confession. She deflected emotion like a metal guard deflecting kunai, and Itachi could not help but take it as a rebuff.

"Don't take this from me." She had spoken in a voice so soft, closer to a whisper than anything, and if they had not been standing in this quiet spot outside the Hyuuga compound, he might have missed it. He certainly had not expected it. "I'll stop after today," she continued, her voice gathering strength. "I'll take time off, however much you want me to… but please, don't take this from me."

Itachi let out the sigh that had been stuck in his lungs since the beginning of this conversation. He had never taken his position as team captain lightly, but by God if it was not one of the most challenging things he had ever done. Four years and sometimes he still felt as uncertain as he had been during the first few months into it. Theory was not and had never been a problem, but there were things one could only learn through practice, and that came with experience. He wondered sometimes, if other, older, team captains had the same doubts. At the moment, however, it did not help. He was alone with this decision.

"Promise me," he said, keeping doubt from his tone.

Akane seemed surprised. In the shinobi world of lies and deceit, those words had no value, no meaning attached to them. Strange that Itachi had chosen them, of all others. But then she considered his previous words. _Right now, I'm just a friend, concerned for your newfound masochistic tendencies._ That had struck a chord, but the lines were blurring and she did not want that. Itachi was her captain. Beyond that, anything else would have been confusing, if not downright perilous.

The edge of the parasol lowered to conceal half her face, and Itachi only saw her lips moving as she said to him: "I promise." Acknowledging that with a nod, he stepped aside and they resumed their amble along the stone face enclosing the home of Konoha's noblest clan.

A member of the branch family stopped them at the gate, asking for their names. Itachi had sent word of their visit to the head of the clan the previous evening, wanting to do this by the book, and the man confirmed that Hiashi Hyuuga was expecting them. He led them through a garden which despite being similar to the one behind Itachi's own home, was much larger. There were multiple buildings at the far side of the courtyard, and their silent guide led them to the largest one, bidding them to wait a moment while he slipped inside to announce their arrival.

Even with their argument along the way, Itachi and Akane had arrived only a few minutes before their appointed time. Hiashi, however, was a busy man. By the sounds coming from within what appeared to be a _dojo, _they were about to interrupt a sparring session.

They were, nevertheless, invited inside by the branch family member, who disappeared shortly after. Hiashi Hyuuga was in the middle of the room, facing his opponent: a young girl with short, black hair, looking tense and dispirited; his eldest daughter, Itachi assumed – Hinata Hyuuga. From her apparent age, she must have been in the same year as Sasuke.

Hiashi did not bother to acknowledge them, even as they bowed formally towards him. He continued to engage the girl, whose reluctance was obvious to anyone with eyes to see, not to mention a possessor of the Byakugan. Itachi wondered if the man was truly as cruel as he seemed. After all, forcing the weight of being a shinobi on those who did not wish it, or could not bear it, could lead to disastrous consequences – be they heirs of noble houses or nobodies.

"You came here to talk to me, so talk," Hiashi said, at long last, in between easily sweeping aside one of his daughter's _juuken_ strikes and sending her flying a few feet towards a wooden wall.

"We came to ask you some questions about your little brother, Hiashi-sama," Itachi said, keeping his voice even. "Suisen Hyuuga."

Hiashi deflected an attack, grabbed his daughter's arm and twisted it to her back, pinning her down for a few long moments before brusquely releasing her. "We're done for today, Hinata," he said curtly.

"Y-yes, f-father," the girl said, bowing to him and nodding uncertainly at the strangers before making her way out of the _dojo_.

Hiashi straightened his back. He then looked at the two visitors for the first time, wondering why a name he had not heard in years was suddenly on their lips. An Uchiha, by the looks of it, and a Nara, from the message he had received. _Jounin_ for certain, perhaps even ANBU, both of them. He certainly had not expected any of this when he had read the scroll delivered by a crow the previous evening. "Follow me," he said.

Itachi and Akane followed the head of the Hyuuga clan to an adjacent room. There was a single, low table in the middle of it, and on top of the table was a lacquered tea tray. Another branch family member, a woman this time, poured steaming tea in three cups. Hiashi was not as inconsiderate as he was letting on, Itachi thought at the sight. True, he had been intentionally vague about the purpose of their visit – all the more reason for Hiashi to hold back from common courtesy. However, he had not.

"Leave us, Haruko," Hiashi told the branch family member as he sat at the table. The woman bowed deeply and stepped outside, shutting the rice-paper panel behind her. From across the low table, the Uchiha was gazing at him with unconcealed impunity, while the Nara woman kept her eyes lowered politely. "Now… What exactly is this about?" Hiashi asked.

"As I have mentioned before, Hiashi-sama," Itachi said, "we would only like to ask you some questions about Suisen Hyuuga."

"That, I understand, Uchiha," Hiashi replied, "but my youngest brother had been dead for… longer than my eldest daughter has been alive. Fourteen years, to be more exact. Surely, you are aware of this. So, I ask again: what _exactly_ is this about?"

Itachi hesitated. He would have preferred not to be cornered into having to disclose such information so soon, but it seemed there was no other way to get past this Hyuuga. "It has come to our attention that Suisen Hyuuga may be alive, in fact," he said.

It was Hiashi's turn to hesitate, taken aback by the young man's words. "Impossible," he said, maintaining his demeanor. "My brother's body was never recovered, but it was assumed the Kumo-nin were after his Byakugan. It must be one of them, then, parading around with my dead brother's eyes. You're wasting your time here… and mine."

"No," Itachi said. "An eyewitness identified him."

Hiashi scoffed and crossed his arms. "An eyewitness," he said, derisively. "And where, pray tell, is this eyewitness now?" He received nothing from the two but silence, and the Uchiha seemed to be growing uncomfortable under the scrutiny. "Come back when you have hard proof, Uchiha," he said. "I will accept nothing less."

"I am the eyewitness."

Hiashi turned his attention to the Nara. Her quiet presence up until now had caused him to overlook her, as one might overlook a piece of décor. He had idly wondered why she was here at first, but had been distracted by the Uchiha. Still, it made little difference. "Surely you are mistaken," he said. "It's been fourteen years. A person's face can change a great deal in such a timespan, especially a teenager's. Besides, as I said before, not everyone who possesses the Byakugan is necessarily a Hyuuga nowadays."

"Then look at me with yours and tell me I am mistaken, Hiashi-sama," the woman said.

At first, Hiashi wrinkled his nose in distaste at her challenge, smooth as she had delivered it. She was quickly proving herself to be as much trouble as the Uchiha, albeit on a completely different level. As much as he resented submitting himself to this, it would have been beyond rude to decline. Besides, part of him could not help but wonder what she thought he would see. Hiashi decided he had nothing to lose.

As the veins at Hiashi's temples bulged towards his pale eyes without warning, sustaining his Byakugan, Itachi saw Akane's face draining of color. She had not jumped, nor made any sound, but was beginning to tremble. Her right hand, which had been resting on her thigh, suddenly grasped at the yukata, gathering the fabric in a fist so tight the knuckles turned white. Her breath hitched in her throat as she forced herself to remain still, but Itachi could see her failing, and the trembling worsened. This had been a bad idea.

Itachi's first impulse was to put her in a genjutsu – something subtle, to numb her mind momentarily, to ease the pain of being at the mercy of yet another Byakugan in such a short span of time. However, Hiashi might then complain of his interfering, or even accuse him of trying to manipulate the evidence. Without much time left to consider, Itachi did the next thing that crossed his mind. His hand reached out under the table and settled on top of hers, not caring what Hiashi might think or make of it. Distraction. Reassurance. The simple gesture's grounding effect was almost immediately visible, as Akane's fist began to relax and her trembling subsided. She released the breath she had been holding in small, controlled puffs.

Hiashi's eyes widened in disbelief before reverting to their normal state. Anyone could use a stolen Byakugan, that was true – but only a Hyuuga would know how to use the Gentle Fist technique. His mind was whirring, aghast at the notion of a Hyuuga, especially one who had been thought dead for over a decade, having attacked a Konoha shinobi. Regardless, the evidence was blatantly obvious in the woman's wounds, in the still-damaged chakra pathways and partially blocked _tenketsu_.

Akane raised her left hand to her chest, finally allowing herself to heal the remaining damage. She had held on to the physical pain for days for this very moment, knowing it would inevitably come, and as the healing chakra repaired the damaged tissues, she began to feel somewhat empty without it. Lighter, yes, but also cold. So cold.

Itachi waited as Hiashi mulled over whatever he had seen, judging by his silence that he had found the hard proof he had previously demanded. Akane too, seemed to have eased back into her usual calm state, though he wondered at the inner turmoil this whole business may had stirred. However bad, the idea at least seemed likely to produce some results now.

"My father was a strict man," Hiashi began, his tone somewhat subdued in contrast to his previous means of addressing the issue. "As the head of the Hyuuga clan, most of his attention was, naturally, focused on his heir – me. The rest of it went to my twin brother, Hizashi, who was to become the head of the branch family, in time. There was none left for our youngest brother, Suisen."

Akane's healing chakra faded and she took a sip of tea to soothe her dry throat. Hiashi paused, momentarily lost in thought as he sifted through memories he had never thought to unearth again. "We were already shinobi by the time he was born. Naturally, all my father's time was spent training Hizashi and I, either in combat or pertaining to our family duties. Nobody thought to prepare Suisen for the shinobi life, so I believe at some point he took matters in his own hands. Even as a child, I remember him watching our training sessions. I don't remember anyone from our family ever teaching him the Gentle Fist, but before anyone knew it, he was doing it. He was the first in his class upon graduating from the Academy, well above the others, who were older."

"He was clearly gifted," Itachi said, having become aware of the fact while looking over his Academy report cards from the personal file. "It's hard to believe your father did not notice it, at some point."

Hiashi frowned. "He did notice… But instead of acknowledging Suisen's talents, he started training _me_ harder. He saw each of Suisen's accomplishments as _my _personal failures."

"What was your brother like?" Itachi asked.

"Quiet. Serious, even as a child. The only times I ever saw his eyes light up where in the rare instances my father looked at him. That changed after he graduated and he started spending time away on missions. By the time he became a chuunin, Suisen was almost never at home."

Indeed, the number of the missions he had undertaken during the years between becoming a chuunin and theoretically dying had been impressive to Itachi. In light of the new information regarding his family situation, however, he was inclined to believe Suisen had outgrown his initial tendencies to become an overachiever in order to catch his father's attention. Instead, it seemed more like he had started running in the opposite direction. _Nobody likes being invisible_, he thought. Completing missions allowed him to be seen, noticed, praised even. Being away must have been the only time when Suisen felt he truly existed.

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen before he left on his final mission?" Itachi asked. "Did he do anything uncharacteristic or argue with someone?"

"Not that I can recall," Hiashi said after a moment of thought. "May I ask…"

Hiashi stopped himself, seemingly hesitating. Itachi tasted the tea only to find it had grown cold in the meantime. This visit had undoubtedly been as harrowing for the Hyuuga as it had been for them. Although he was not supposed to disclose the sort of information Hiashi would likely request, Itachi was inclined to indulge him, if only for the sake of not burning this very valuable bridge, which they may find themselves needing again. "Yes, Hiashi-sama?" he asked encouragingly.

"What has my brother done?"

"He is a suspect in a string of murders and disappearances we have been investigating," Itachi replied. _Among other things._

The Uchiha had, considerately, said suspect instead of culprit, but it was clear to Hiashi, nevertheless. It felt like swallowing the bitterest pill in his life. His little brother was about to become a stain on their family name and proud history. Was this Suisen's idea of revenge for having been neglected all those years? _What a wicked heart_, he thought bitterly, _to make our whole family pay for one man's mistake. _But then again, the clan's impeccable reputation and high standing had always been the most important things to his father.

It crossed Hiashi's mind that he could pull some strings and have the investigation stalled, or even stopped within a matter of days. He did have the necessary influence to do such a thing. _But this one,_ he thought, looking at the stoic kunoichi, _would never let such a thing slide._ Besides, the more he toyed with the idea, the more it seemed like something his father would have done, if faced with the situation himself. _And I am not my father,_ he decided.

"If there is anything you need," Hiashi said, taking Itachi by surprise, "I will help you, as long as you bring my brother to justice."

**I apologize for the late update. I'm afraid updates will be rather infrequent from now on, as I have to study for a paramount exam. But, rest assured, I will not be abandoning this story. It hangs too heavily on my mind. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'll try to post another one as soon as I can.**


	8. In Hushed Whispers

**I know what I said last chapter, but I swear this one more or less wrote itself in the spare time I had. I decided to surprise you with it, since it surprised me, too. A big thanks to my reviewers and thank you for wishing me well on that exam (nobodysperfect2133, you see a great many things correctly, your astuteness always makes me smile). I hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 8 – In Hushed Whispers**

Itachi and Akane were walking back the way they had come, along the stone fence enclosing the Hyuuga compound. The sun was painting their skin red from the west, the sky itself swathed in warm shades ranging from gold to vermilion. The heat had subsided somewhat, and the wind carried the scent of evening-blooming flowers. In the strange light, Akane's _yukata_ seemed black, instead of dark-blue.

Neither of them had spoken a word since taking their leave of Hiashi Hyuuga, but the silence was not an uncomfortable one. They were both attuned to it by their nature. Tenzo would have liked it, too. Conversely, Tsume and Shisui would have done anything to break it. Itachi was going to meet with them all later in the evening, since they all had patrol duty for the night. He would have a few minutes to update them on today's progress before heading out on their separate routes, but for the moment, he preferred to revel in the scenery instead of thinking about that. About anything whatsoever.

There was a sudden commotion beside him. Akane's sandals scuffed the dust of the ground and Itachi saw her whirl before bending over to vomit by the side of the road. He rushed to her side, nonplussed, but very much alert now.

Akane straightened her back and held out a hand to stop him, without turning to face him. "Please don't touch me," she breathed in a strangled voice. "I'm alright. I apologize."

The glistening droplet forming at the corner of her eye did not escape Itachi's notice, and his eyes followed it as it rolled down her cheek before she unceremoniously wiped it with her sleeve. So, everything she had repressed under the Byakugan's scrutiny earlier was now making its way back to the surface. Or, not everything. Knowing her, she was still viciously fighting to keep _some_ of it bottled up, for appearances' sake. "There's no need to apologize," he said. "Shall I take you to the hospital?"

"No," she said quickly. "Home." Akane pushed herself off the fence, having been leaning on it for support, and turned around, keeping her eyes down and averted from him.

Silence resettled, like a lazy cat curling back to sleep after being roused by the flutter of wings. The previous silence in his head, however, did not. What had it taken to break such a proud, fierce creature as the woman walking beside him now? Itachi dreaded the answer to that question as much as he burned with curiosity for the answer to another: what could ever mend the broken pieces back together? Konoha needed shinobi like her, but the cold, hard truth was that Akane seemed to be irrevocably compromised in the aftermath of her kidnapping. At the moment, she was a liability. Part of him screamed with guilt for thinking it, but even so, Itachi knew he was right.

Konoha was coming to life in the haze of dusk, as people took advantage of the brief respite from the heat to fill the streets. The market square was bustling with people and the restaurants, overflowing. It would be a long time until everyone settled down for the night, and that spelled out hypervigilance for Itachi, whose patrol route would take him straight through the heart of the village, towards the east gate. Such buzzing crowds could become very troublesome, _very _fast.

The streets leading down to Akane's house were darker, and quieter; much more to his taste. The last light in the sky was dying by the time they stopped in front of her small house, where the comfortable silence they had walked in turned awkward. They stood in the dim streetlight, neither of them knowing what to say. After a few, painfully long moments, Akane opened her mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by another voice.

"_Aniki._"

Itachi turned his head to see his little brother standing in the middle of the street, staring at them, his hands shoved into the pockets of his white shorts. Brushing aside his surprise at Sasuke bumping into them at this hour, Itachi quickly redirected his attention to Akane for a brief moment. "Remember, you promised," he said to her. He held her gaze for long enough to receive a nod of assent before she made her way inside, without a word.

Sasuke waited. He had never before seen anyone but Shisui accompanying his brother, and catching him with someone else, not to mention a woman, was a novelty. "I didn't think you were interested in dating," he said nonchalantly when Itachi turned his attention to him again.

"Akane is my teammate," Itachi replied quickly. Too quickly. "But, Sasuke-"

Sasuke smirked. "_Hai, hai, _I'll forget you said anything," he said.

They settled into a leisurely pace as they made their way down the street, towards the outskirts, where the Uchiha district was located. Itachi still had a couple of hours to kill before work and Sasuke appeared to be in a good mood. He might as well wrap up the day nicely. "Would you like to watch the stars together after dinner, _otouto?_" he asked, looking up.

Sasuke was taken aback by the proposition. He could not remember the last time they had done that, but a decidedly warm feeling suffused his chest thinking about it. When he had been younger and suffered from nightmares which resulted in hours of sleeplessness, Itachi would take him to the back garden. There, they would lie in the grass, side by side, and look at the sky, until a dreamless sleep overcame him. He would always wake up back in his bed by morning, as if by magic. Some lingering form of that magic, which he had thought to have outgrown by now, nudged him to consent.

Mikoto was setting the table by the time they arrived, and she smiled upon seeing her sons walk in together. Sasuke's body language, to her still astute _jounin_ eye, suggested he was no longer as upset with his older brother for brushing him off one too many times. Time could heal a great many things, and arguments between siblings were only flecks of dust compared to other misfortunes.

"_Okaerinasai_," she greeted them cheerfully when they stepped into the kitchen. "How was your day?"

"Uneventful," Sasuke said. Itachi merely shrugged in response, content to let his little brother do the talking. "Finding missing pets and weeding gardens was not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for this. _Aniki,_ you should have warned me."

A smile tugged at Itachi's lips. Sasuke was clearly in a much better mood than he had previously thought. After all, the last time they had seen each other, Sasuke had preferred to walk out of the room instead of acknowledging him. He could not remember being as troublesome at his age, but then again, they were different people. These were the moments he would cherish, instead of focusing on the rough patches.

"You wouldn't have listened anyway," Itachi told his brother in good humor. "But the more such missions you do, the more experience you get. Eventually, you'll be assigned something to test your mettle."

"Naruto's big mouth did get us a C-ranked mission today," Sasuke said. "We'll be setting out to the Land of Waves tomorrow, on an escort."

"_Ara_, Sasuke, that's wonderful!" Mikoto said. "It's good that you told me, I'll have time to prepare you a nice lunchbox. Shall I put in a little something extra for your teammates, too?"

"That won't be necessary," Sasuke replied, visibly miffed by the idea, although he knew his mother would ignore his refusal and do as she liked. Stubbornness ran in the family. There was no point in arguing with her over such trivial matters as the amount of food he would end up carrying. Naruto would probably eat it within the first couple of hours on the road anyway. He turned his attention back to Itachi. "So, will you be leaving again soon, too?" he asked.

Itachi shook his head. "Not for a while. My current duties are within the village limits."

Sasuke snorted. "Did you get benched?" It was obviously a joke, although Sasuke had unknowingly hit the mark. Itachi was about to play along, when Fugaku walked into the kitchen and foiled his plans.

"You got sanctioned?" Fugaku asked, a mixture of disbelief and displeasure in his voice.

Itachi composed himself. "Sasuke was only joking, father."

"With every team in this village stretched as thin as they are," Fugaku said as his eyes grew sharper with every word, "I don't think Hokage-sama would spare even one ANBU squad for something as trivial as patrolling the streets."

A cold shiver ran down Itachi's spine at his father's last words, which had hit even closer than Sasuke's. This was not about his little brother's joke, he realized. As chief of police, Fugaku had access to the patrol rosters. In a moment of distraction, Itachi had allowed himself to get caught red-handed, lying. Although, to his father's mind, this was certainly the least of his transgressions.

Mikoto sighed and spun around, holding up a wooden spoon. "How many times must I tell you all? No arguments at the dinner table," she said, looking every bit as threatening as if she had been holding a kunai. "You can discuss these matters in _private_, afterwards," she went on, her eyes darting from Fugaku to Itachi. "Now, let's eat."

Although Itachi found his appetite to have somewhat diminished, he did eventually manage to convince himself to force something down his throat. The prospect of otherwise facing his father on an empty stomach was unpleasant. His mother would not ring the saving bell then. The four of them ate in silence, and in the palpable tension that seemed to haunt the dinner table more insistently by the day, the only sound that punctuated it was that of bamboo chopsticks against porcelain.

When Fugaku rose from his seat and placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, his heart gave a painful twinge. "Come, Itachi." He obliged, albeit reluctantly, and followed his father down the hall into his office, where they knelt on the _tatami_ facing each other. "So," Fugaku said, "how about you don't lie to me this time?"

Denying he had done so was pointless. Itachi nodded in assent.

"What did you do?"

_What I had to do._ "I left the village without permission."

Fugaku quirked a brow and crossed his arms, tapping his fingers against the side of his shoulder in irritation. Itachi willed himself to remain completely still under his father's glare. His face eased into practiced numbness, giving nothing away, even as his skin was beginning to feel too tight over his body.

"What possessed you to do such a thing?" Fugaku asked.

Itachi had been bracing himself for this question. Even so, he could not tell his father the truth. Fugaku would never understand. "That information is-"

"Oh, enough of that!" Fugaku cut him off. Even upset as he was, Itachi had not expected his father to raise his voice at him. "You are an Uchiha first! How many times must I tell you, Itachi? Everything you do, every mistake you make, reflects badly on all of us. You are one of the two most valuable shinobi this family has right now, as well as its future leader, and you _have_ to start acting like it instead of fooling around in the ANBU."

Itachi lowered his head, not as much in submission as to conceal the sharingan burning in his eyes from rage. _Fooling around in the ANBU? _His fingernails dug into the flesh on his legs. He used the pain they caused to keep his reaction in check, to prevent himself from lashing out in return.

"You have too much potential and I will not allow you to squander it by any means," Fugaku said, lowering his voice back to normal. "I will tell you this now, in order to give you time to come to terms with it: I'm going to allow you exactly one more year to spend in the ANBU."

The words hit Itachi like a chakra-loaded fist in the stomach. This, he had certainly not seen coming, and he could not fathom what his father had in mind for him. He had been more than pleased when Itachi had become the youngest to ever join the force.

"The novelty seems to be wearing off for you anyway, since you're making mistakes and breaking the rules, but mark my words: do it one more time and I won't even let you have that whole year." Fugaku paused, waiting for Itachi to react, but he did not do so in any way. Taking it as a sign of quiet resignation, he continued. "You will next set your sights on becoming the Fifth Hokage."

At this, Itachi could not contain himself any longer. "Impossible," he said, unable to believe his father's ambition. How long had he been planning this for?

"You will _make_ it possible. Are you not the youngest shinobi to have ever been accepted into the ANBU?" his father asked, a dangerous edge in his voice.

Itachi swerved under the weight Fugaku was placing on his shoulders. He recoiled inwardly at the enormity of it, disgusted beyond belief. "Is that all I am to you, father?" he asked, a great deal more calmly than he would have liked to. "A pawn for you to use in your imaginary war against this village?"

Fugaku scoffed at the notion. "Of course not," he said smoothly. "You are the queen."

Itachi stood up, feeling dangerously close to his limit. Right now, he could not trust himself to withstand the full force of his father's ambition without breaking, which was exactly what his father probably wanted.

"You have not been dismissed," Fugaku said as he watched his son pad wordlessly towards the exit.

"I'm sorry, father," Itachi said, his tone now devoid of emotion. "I've heard enough." His hand was on the door panel, about to slide it open, when his father's voice caused him to pause.

"You have one year, Itachi."

Fugaku was surprised to see a flash of red in the glare Itachi threw at him over his shoulder in the split second before he walked out of his office. He dissimulated well enough, but he was still young, still needed a firm hand to guide him. If only Itachi knew the greatness he could ascend to, if only he could open his eyes to the world of possibilities laid bare before him… There was still time, Fugaku told himself. He would be patient and Itachi would eventually come around.

Outside Fugaku's office, Itachi leaned against the wall, unable to control the trembling which had taken over his hands. Something distracted his attention from the dark thoughts raging in his head, however, and his gaze drifted upwards. He pushed himself upright and vanished soundlessly, only to reappear an instant later on the roof, behind his eavesdropping little brother. Before Sasuke could notice him, he carefully balanced himself on the balls of his feet and leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"_This_ is how you properly conceal your chakra, _otouto_."

Sasuke jumped, nearly choking on the bit of peach he had been chewing. "Shit, did you have to do that?" he asked, flabbergasted, using the back of his hand to wipe the drizzle of juice which had involuntarily come out from the corner of his mouth.

Itachi lay down on the roof, sliding his arms under his head for comfort and allowing his sharingan to fade. The myriad stars blurred for a moment, then came back into focus as his eyes adjusted to the dojutsu's absence. Sasuke seemed to have lost his interest in the peach, a look of utter confusion plastered on his face. He had expected Itachi to admonish him for eavesdropping, but his brother seemed more intent on falling asleep than anything.

"So," he began tentatively, "father pinned the Hokage hat on your head."

Itachi opened his eyes. Sasuke was relentless, as usual. Tactless, even more so than usual. He motioned for his little brother to come closer. After a moment's hesitation, Sasuke did so, but settled in a safe enough position to avoid being poked in the forehead. He waited for his _aniki_ to respond to his challenge, but Itachi did not. After a while, instead of sitting, he eased down beside Itachi, feeling somewhat irked by his brother's indifference. Why did it have to be so damn difficult to get to him all the time?

A shooting star swept across the heavens. "Wait until he hears you have an outsider for a girlfriend," Sasuke said all of the sudden, throwing all caution to the wind. Traditionally, the head of the clan only married someone from the family, to keep the bloodline limit strong.

"Sasuke," Itachi warned tiredly.

But he had finally given him what he wanted. Sasuke smirked at his victory, only to be caught off guard and poked in the forehead. The look in Itachi's eyes was only half reproachful. The other half held quiet amusement. Sasuke rubbed his forehead, content to let this one slide.

* * *

The only sound was the dripping of water. The fat drops formed slowly in the tap, hanging ever more precariously, until finally succumbing to their own weight and falling into the water. The tub was full to the brim. One by one, they fell, sending ripples on the surface. The sound they made bounced from the walls, producing a slight echo that seemed to linger in the steamy air.

Akane was submerged up to her neck, watching the ripples form and the water move as she breathed. Her hair framed her body like a cloak of shadows. She could not remember how long she had been sitting in the tub for. The water was still warm, so it could not have been that long. But then again, it had been almost scalding when she had stepped in, enough to flush her skin a bright shade of red. It did not matter. Not even that could burn the ghost of his touch from her skin.

Her eyes drifted to the kunai balanced on the edge of the tub. The bright, neon light glinted on its edge, sharpened to deadly perfection. Her gaze lingered there almost lovingly. A quick cut to part skin and flesh, to nick the femoral artery. Just one quick cut and she would be free. Like cutting a puppet's strings. The water in the tub would redden and grow still as she embraced the void.

_No_.

Akane tore her gaze from the kunai by turning her head to stare at the wall. If she closed her eyes, she would see his face, his lips twisting into a wicked smile, the brown hair falling around them as he bent down to whisper venom in her ear and those pale, pale eyes. The color of crushed worms. _If you close your eyes again, I will cut off your eyelids._ The water rippled as Akane shivered.

_Not yet, _she told herself.

* * *

Contrary to Itachi's expectations, his patrol had proven uneventful so far, even after lurking on the rooftops above the still-bustling market square for almost an hour to keep an eye on the situation. It was an hour past midnight now and things had finally settled down. He finished eating a _dango _and stood up, brushing the dust from his pants before setting out on his established route towards the outskirts.

The waning moon lit his path where the streetlights did not, and he enjoyed the quiet run across Konoha's rooftops. Sometimes he paused on the edge of one roof or another, looking through dark, open windows and wondering at the people who slept peacefully within, oblivious to his presence. He enjoyed the cool of the night, although he would hate waking up in the heat of noon.

Although Sasuke's antics had managed to sweeten Itachi's mood somewhat, Fugaku's words still hung heavily on his mind. His father had always been shrewd and ambitious, but this seemed too great a leap even for him. When had he become so callous? Itachi could not deny that the thought of one day becoming Hokage had crossed his mind now and then in the last few years. But not like this. Not for the Uchiha clan, but for Konoha.

He stopped, balancing himself on the balls of his feet on top of a utility pole, surveying the area. Akane's house was below, suffused in darkness. There were so many things on his mind nowadays he did not even know where to start untangling the threads and which one to follow first. He would have taken the exhaustion of combat any day over the mental and emotional weariness of trying to keep everything in balance.

Itachi was about to continue on his way when a scream tore through the silence of the night, setting his every nerve on edge. It had been Akane's voice, followed by the distinct sound of something shattering. His muscles tensed and he sprang down from the pole into her back garden, careful to remain in the shadows. Had someone broken into her house? Such things were almost unheard of in Konoha. Another, darker thought surfaced. _Suisen._ Had he somehow managed to slip past the gates and into the village? Impossible. He could not have tracked her all the way here.

Before he could make up his mind about his course of action, the panel door at the back of the house opened abruptly and Akane walked out. Itachi withdrew further into the darkness, watching, waiting. She appeared to be alone, however, and had probably been sleeping, judging from her attire, which consisted only of a t-shirt which reached down to her mid-thighs, leaving her slender legs bare in the faint shimmer of the moon and starlight. She sat down on the back porch, with her feet in the grass, and a flame lit her face up momentarily as she lit a cigarette.

_A nightmare?_ Itachi wondered, somewhat relieved.

"You can come out, Itachi."

His muscles tensed right back up. He was certain Akane could not have seen him, and his chakra was perfectly concealed. He stepped out into the light, albeit hesitantly, and walked up to her. She motioned for him to sit beside her, which he did, still unable to shake off the confusion. "How did you know?" he asked.

Akane breathed out a cloud of smoke which aside from the acrid scent of tobacco also carried a hint of sweetness within it. _Cherries?_ "I picked up your heartbeat," she said matter-of-factly.

Itachi suppressed a shudder. He dreaded to think what else she could do to a heartbeat beyond picking it up. "But you knew it was me, specifically," he noted.

"Every heartbeat is unique. Yours is familiar."

Itachi felt an uncharacteristic heat spreading over his cheeks at the notion, wondering how much time she had spent listening to their heartbeats… his heartbeat, over the course of four years. It seemed like such an intimate thing to know about someone. He was glad for the lack of light. "I didn't know you smoked," he said, feeling rather sheepish.

"Oh," she said, looking as if she had only just become aware of the cigarette in her hand. "It's a bad habit I picked up during my chuunin years. I keep telling myself I'll quit after this one, but…" As she trailed off, he saw her eyes glossing over with tears. "I guess I'm that weak," she said in a strangled, barely controlled voice.

Itachi's brows furrowed in concern. Over the past few days, she seemed to have been getting worse instead of better. He was afraid for her now more than he was afraid of talking feelings, which he had never been good at. "Akane," he said, hesitating for a moment. "Are you alright?"

She looked at him then, eyes full of tears, and sobbed, her breath catching in her throat. Just as Itachi was starting to think the question had probably not been a testament to his intelligence, Akane forced herself to speak. "You know," she said, "nobody has dared to ask me that since, since…" She paused, unable to continue through the tears, but struggled to catch her breath again. "I'm not alright. But I will be. I _have _to be. Because right now I can't do my job, and without that I'm nothing, I'm nobody. What I have to do is become a shinobi again. Because… because it's all I've ever known. All I've ever been."

The words resonated with him in a way he had not expected. Like him, Akane had seen war. Becoming a shinobi had not been a choice for them, but a necessity. It was part of their identity now. Akane was as painfully aware of her own current limitations as him, and it was killing her to not be of use. To feel like a dull blade, discarded, forgotten.

There was nothing he could say that would bring her comfort, he realized. In all honesty, he did not feel like saying anything. Words were empty and would fail him again. He decided was not an Uchiha first, nor even a shinobi. He was human first.

What he did was reach out and pull her in his arms.


	9. The Longest Night

**Chapter 9 – The Longest Night**

It was past dawn when Itachi walked into the deserted ANBU headquarters, making his way towards the locker rooms. There was a subtle tension in his head, more pronounced at the temples, and he idly wondered if it was going to turn into one of those wicked headaches he sometimes could not shake. He removed his mask to rub the bridge of his nose, and did not notice Shisui standing in the hallway, casually leaning against the wall.

"You're late."

Itachi looked up wearily. "I thought you'd all be gone by now," he said, not bothering to conceal his mild surprise at Shisui still being there. "Our shift ended an hour ago."

"Ours. Not yours, apparently," Shisui remarked, following Itachi towards the locker room. "I was worried, so I decided to stick around and wait for you. Did you run into trouble?"

"No. Just a bit of a… situation." The front of his uniform was still moist with tears. That had never happened before. If his attire had ever been moist with anything, it had been blood. "I appreciate your concern."

Shisui watched him, his sharingan taking in every detail in such rapid succession, the information seemed to come to him all at once. The wet stain on the front of his uniform. The ink stain on his hand, likely from fumbling with his report at the end of the shift. The subtle slouch, shoulders drawn in. The slow, heavy steps. Eyes half-closed, brows slightly furrowed. "What's on your mind, Itachi?"

"Nothing," came the swift, bordering on automatic, reply.

Shisui sighed. Even he sometimes had to knock at the walls to remind Itachi to lower his defenses. "You'll implode one day, you know," he said. "There will be pieces of you scattered from here all the way to the Uchiha district, and I'll be the one who has to pick them up. Let's not get there, shall we?"

Itachi closed his eyes, already tasting defeat. Shisui had always had this grounding effect on him, never letting him wander too far into the depths of his introversion. He was too tired to put up a fight. "I wouldn't know where to begin," he admitted. He slumped on one of the benches in the locker room, resting his head against the wall.

"Is it the investigation?"

"In part, though I'd say we've made good progress on that. Better than I would have expected, given our team's current status. We're benched, as my little brother unceremoniously put it earlier tonight, and down one team member."

"You said Akane-san did her part well during your meeting with Hyuuga."

Itachi opened his eyes, staring at the wall. He could still hear her sobbing uncontrollably, feel her shuddering in his arms, feel her tears seeping into the front of his jacket. It was not an image he would be able to forget anytime soon, if ever. "The price for that was too high."

Shisui waited, but Itachi said no more of it. Still, his meaning was obvious. The _kunoichi_ had cracked. "Did she give you the profile, Itachi?" he asked. He had not meant to sound callous, but there was no point in beating around the bush. That had been the sole reason Akane had been the one to join Itachi at the meeting with Hiashi Hyuuga. If she had failed to give him the complete profile, it had been for naught. She was likely no longer in the necessary state to do so.

It seemed like forever until Itachi replied. "Yeah. She did."

* * *

_Akane was feeling lightheaded. Although her vision was still blurred with tears, they were coming out silently now, few and far between. Her breathing had somewhat steadied, from racking sobs, to pained whimpers and now, finally, sighs, slow and deep. _

_Itachi's vest was soft under her cheek. He smelled like smoke and wind. Warmth radiated from him, enveloping her, seeping into her flesh and tired heart, and her numb mind wondered if he was feverish before remembering that he was a Katon user. It was his chakra she was feeling, shielding her from the cool of the night. Through the vest, she could hear a steady, familiar rhythm. The sound of it was comforting. But then she realized it was the first time she was hearing his heartbeat like this, and she became aware of the proximity required for that. _

_He let her go when she pulled away, her cheeks flushed now from more than just crying. "I'm sorry," she said, quickly wiping the remaining tears with the back of her hand. "That was… You didn't have to do that."_

"_Akane," he said in a tone both firm and gentle. She stared at him, frozen like a deer in the split second before discerning between safety and predator. Itachi continued on the same note. "Although it's mandatory, I will not refer you for rehabilitation against your will. There is still no official report on what happened, and when I submit one, it need not contain this. Any of this." He watched a tear form and fall ever-so-quietly. "But," he said, "I need you to trust me, in return. I will check up on you often, even though it doesn't have to be a formality. You won't have to talk or do anything you don't want to. We can spar or have tea, or… or you could talk to Tsume instead, if you're more comfortable with her. Walk Kuromaru with her. So long as you don't… shut yourself in." Another tear rolled down from startled eyes. Itachi's hand reached out seemingly of its own accord, his thumb brushing lightly against her skin to catch it. "More than anything," he said, "I need you to understand that you are not alone."_

_But the tears kept on falling down in utter silence, one after another. "Why?" she asked, eventually, a note of disbelief in her voice. "Why would you do something so troublesome for me?" To her surprise, Itachi smiled._

"_In every mission we take, we put our lives in your hands," he said. "In four years, you have never failed to bring all of us home, alive." She _was_ a field medic-nin. Teams who had a member specialized in that considered themselves lucky, seeing as to how there were so few of them in Konoha because Tsunade had left without training more. But there was more to it, and Itachi was not finished. "Even back then," he said, "he only took you because you were busy healing Kuromaru." _

_Akane shuddered. Another tear fell, barely felt against her cheek. "How did you…"_

"_They said Kuromaru could not have survived that blow otherwise. What the medics found suggested a certain amount of healing had already been done, enough to restart the heart and stop the bleeding."_

"_He did that on purpose," she said in a soft voice, folding into herself like a piece of origami. She breathed in sharply and let the air out slowly, fighting to maintain her composure. "I never saw him coming. Everything he does is calculated." The words were coming out, although it felt like she was ripping them out of her very flesh. "That cloak…" Her voice broke and she faltered for a few moments before continuing. "That cloak, he never covered me with it. He left it folded beside me, knowing I would eventually grow cold, in my state. He wanted me to do it myself."_

_Itachi listened. He had guided her through the conversation, true, but he had not thought to see her regain this much control over herself so soon. She was still a weapon, deep down. Her sole purpose now was to cut, and so she did, aiming her edge at the memory of her assailant, tearing down the shroud of mystery. Making him more human, less of a ghost. Less nightmare._

"_He wants to be seen and heard, the way he never was as a child," she said, her voice starting to gain a new, clinical edge. "His preferred way of killing only stands out in contrast to his partner's work. His work is efficient, clean, and quick, whereas his partner's is messy_ _and slow. Even so, he is the dominant one between the two of them, without a doubt. Which is why Tsume and I are still alive."_

_There was a clinking sound and the lighter's flame lit her face briefly. The tears had dried on her cheeks. Cherry-scented smoke filled the air twice before she spoke again. "If he killed everyone he encountered, he would remain invisible._ _It's not the killing that gets him off. The poison on the dart which hit Tsume may have been concocted by his partner, but I'm certain it was his idea. It would have caused powerful hallucinations, wholly unpleasant due to it targeting the victim's cerebral fear center, to say the least, and impossible to stop without an antidote."_

_It was like the steel was back under Akane's skin now. There was still a heaviness in her tone, a stiffness in her posture, suggesting discomfort, at the very least, but she had managed to distance herself from the whole thing in a manner quite unexpected, so much so that Itachi did not dare interrupt her. This was the kunoichi in her talking. The one he had thought dead._

"_It's the mental anguish, the long-term effects that he's after," she said. "When we next meet, he will be watching Tsume and me. He will look for the cracks he made and try to exploit them." _

_Shisui's words came back to Itachi then. _The worst kind of sadist_, he had said, and he had been right. The picture was growing more vivid by the moment in Itachi's mind, like a nightmare unfolding. They were barely scraping the surface here, but every little detail could potentially make the difference between life and death the next time they came across Suisen and Juri._

"_I appreciate your offer, captain… and I accept your terms," Akane said, at long last. _

* * *

Shisui brushed a knuckle again his chin, deep in thought. Itachi had relayed the profile to him in a deadpan tone, but even so, every now and again he had picked up on a darker undercurrent. He wanted to ask Itachi if he saw the solution to the Suisen problem as clearly as he did, but his friend's demeanor suggested there were cracks in the walls as it was. There was no point in adding pressure, when he only sought to relieve it. With the team restricted to Konoha indefinitely, there would likely be time enough to tackle this subject at another date. Right now, there seemed to be other things on Itachi's mind.

"There's more?" Shisui said, his words coming out as half-question, half-statement.

"You could say that," Itachi admitted. "Have you been to any clan meetings at the Naka shrine recently?"

The question took Shisui aback. "No, last time I went was months ago. They chewed my ear off when I tried telling them that being feared is not the same as being respected. I thought I'd never make it out alive. Apparently, arguing semantics with our clansmen has become quite the hazardous endeavor."

"My father has big plans for me, it seems," Itachi said. "I was wondering if he has shared them with the rest of the clan."

"What are you talking about?"

"He gave me an ultimatum, of sorts. One more year in the ANBU and then he wants me to climb the ladder all the way to the top."

Shisui chuckled darkly. "Hokage, hm?" Somehow, it had come as no surprise to him. Firstly, because it was a very Fugaku-like idea to maneuver his eldest son into it, but that was not the sole reason. "Why should that be bad? Just because your father was the one to spell it out loud for you?" Shisui said, ignoring the equally hurt and confused look Itachi threw him. "Itachi, your heart is in the right place. Nothing Fugaku-sama says, or does, will ever change that. His will is ultimately irrelevant, because yours is the will of fire."

"Keep talking like that and you'll be the one to become Sandaime-sama's successor."

"At least I made you smile," Shisui said with a smirk of his own.

"I'm too young to become Hokage," Itachi said. He was always quick to return to seriousness, Shisui thought. Sometimes too quick, but that was the way he had always been. He could not blame him for it.

"You were too young to become an ANBU member, and an ANBU captain, and look at you now. Besides, The Fourth was not much older than you when he became Hokage. If I didn't know you better, Itachi, I'd think you're just looking for excuses. But I'll ask you this: do you _want_ to become Hokage?"

Itachi sighed. "What I want is irrelevant, you know. You don't become the Hokage to be acknowledged by everyone, like my father thinks. One becomes the Hokage when everyone acknowledges them, instead. Let's be realistic, Shisui, nobody in this village wants an Uchiha in that position."

"We can't, because you're an idealist." At Itachi's weary look of surprise, Shisui shrugged. "As much as we'd like to think otherwise, that's not quite how the politics of this village work. If Hokage-sama somehow fails to name his successor in the event of his death or incapacitation, the matter will fall into the hands of a committee. The _daimyo _of the Fire Country, with the advice of Konoha's Council, the _Jounin_ Commander, and a representative from the ANBU would come together to debate this. While the Council would undoubtedly be against an Uchiha successor, the shinobi of this village know you, Itachi. They _would_ support you."

"What I want is still irrelevant," Itachi concluded. "As is this discussion."

"Power should be given to those reluctant to take it, rather than the eager, I should say. That's how the First Hokage was chosen."

Itachi smirked and started to remove his uniform by unclasping the armguards. "First politics, now history? It's too early in the morning for this, Shisui, and neither of us has slept over the night."

Shisui laughed. "_Hai, hai,_" he said. "I'll leave you be… although I'm certain the thought of one day becoming Hokage has crossed your mind before, independent of your father's wishes."

"Don't ask and I won't lie."

"Alright, I won't," Shisui said, somewhat appeased. "So long as you promise to keep it in mind."

Itachi sighed, his determination weakening before Shisui's relentless pursuit. He had expected his friend to condemn his father's words, rather than support the idea behind them. It had been a valiant effort on Shisui's part, he feared to admit. He had succeeded in planting a seed within Itachi's stone-hard resolve, and perhaps one day it would sprout, cracking its way through, towards the surface. But not today.

Konoha was only just waking up as the two Uchihas made their way across it. To Itachi, it had felt like the longest night in his life, and he was weary to the bone in its wake. Sleep was becoming a luxury he craved more than anything, for it provided much needed respite from his thoughts.

While he had always had a tendency towards overthinking (which Shisui never failed to subtly point out and defuse, to some extent), lately his mind had become a veritable mire. No doubt, even his friend was starting to have some trouble navigating it. Perhaps it was the lack of activity, he thought. In the aftermath of everything that had happened, the team's current restrictions left him with more time than usual to dwell on things. He would have to add daily hours of training to tire his mind into submission. Not that training in itself ever hurt.

The sun had fully risen from the haze of dawn by the time Itachi arrived in front of his family's home. He was about to say goodbye to Shisui when Sasuke walked out of the house, equipped with a voluminous and rather heavy-looking backpack.

"_Ohayo_," he said to the two older Uchihas in greeting, despite looking and sounding rather sullen. Behind him, Itachi saw his mother waving from the porch with a pleased smile. So, she had loaded his little brother with all the goodies she had promised and more, he thought amusedly. His teammates, at least, would rejoice. Mikoto was an unparalleled cook.

"Hiya, Sasuke-kun," Shisui said, tousling the hair on the top of his head affectionately, much to the young one's chagrin. "Long time no see."

"Not long enough, cousin," Sasuke said, swatting his hand away. "You haven't changed one bit. What are you up to nowadays?"

"Oh, still teaching your _aniki_ a thing or two about being a man," he said offhandedly, elbowing Itachi in the ribs.

Sasuke glanced at his brother through narrowed eyes, and quirked a brow at what he could not believe was a tint of pink in Itachi's cheeks. He decided he most definitely did not want to know what Shisui had meant by that.

"What about you?" Shisui asked. "Off on a mission this early in the morning?"

"Yeah, although that Kakashi-sensei is likely going to be late again," Sasuke muttered. "I probably won't be seeing you for a few days," he said to Itachi. "It's a long way to the Land of Waves, so I…" He trailed off as his eyes wandered to the man stopping beside him. It was their father, fully garbed in uniform and on his way to work.

"Good morning," Fugaku said levelly, his gaze shifting between the two older boys. "It's good to see you, Shisui. We've been missing you at the clan meetings."

"I apologize, Fugaku-sama," Shisui said, somehow managing to pull off an expression of contriteness. "I've been quite neglectful in my duties, haven't I? I'll be sure to rectify that."

Fugaku gave no hint of seeing through his pretense. "In the meantime, perhaps you'll be able to talk some sense into my son," he said, looking at Itachi. "Since he's so bent on not listening to me."

Sasuke flinched as if Fugaku had glared at him like that, instead. Last night's argument between his father and brother came back to his mind, along with the mixed feelings it had brought. Part of him felt sorry for Itachi, even if he did not quite understand what his brother was thinking. He was clearly reluctant to bear such responsibility, despite being more than capable. Another part of him envied his brother for the attention he always received, even now, when Fugaku was angry with him after their falling out. It seemed no matter what he did, Itachi would always be miles ahead of him.

Shisui's expression had taken on a subtle, serious edge. For a moment, Sasuke thought to name it disapproval, rather, but surely his cousin would not disobey. He was older, and supposedly had more sense than Itachi. "I'll try my best, Fugaku-sama," Shisui said, bowing politely. That set Sasuke's mind at ease. He _did_ have more sense than Itachi, it seemed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take my leave. Good luck on your mission, Sasuke-kun," he said, flashing him a smile before walking away.

Fugaku and Itachi were left to stare at each other. No words were spoken, but there was steel in their eyes, and it made Sasuke feel awkward and uncomfortable. The had had their arguments in the past, like it happened, no doubt, in all families. However, he had never seen the two of them like this before.

"Sasuke." Itachi calling his name made Sasuke jump, as it pulled him from his thoughts rather abruptly. "You'll be late," he pointed out softly, looking at him with none of the edge he had given Fugaku.

Sasuke swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. "I'll be back in a few days. _Ja ne,_" he said, pivoting away from them. He was unaware of Fugaku's eyes lingering on him along with Itachi's as he walked away.

The moment his little brother was out of earshot, Itachi turned to leave. Fugaku's head snapped towards him, alerted by the movement. "Itachi," he said, but his son cut him off.

"Not now, father. I'm tired."

"And I'm tired of your attitude," Fugaku insisted, grabbing his wrist firmly, but not enough to hurt. "However, I keep hoping you'll come to your senses soon. This clan needs you to think on your feet. You're not doing this for _me._ Please reconsider your stance, Itachi." He sounded almost sincere.

Itachi turned to face him. "Forgive me, father. I assume my indifference displeases you," he said, managing to keep his voice steady for the retaliation. "I'm certain Sasuke feels the same about yours."

Fugaku's eyes widened in surprise. His mouth opened, but for a few moments, he was at a loss for words. He let go of Itachi's wrist and straightened his back. "This is unbecoming of you," he finally said, regaining his composure. "I hardly even recognize you anymore, Itachi. I must say that I am sorely disappointed in you. For all your talent, you've become arrogant and… _selfish_._"_

Itachi bristled. They were both hanging by the edge of their patience again, but at least neither of them had raised their voice yet. Itachi swore to himself he would not be the first to do so. "Just how am I being selfish?"

Fugaku scoffed. "All this _time_ I have spent training you, preparing you and now, worrying about you and the future of this clan…"

"No," Itachi cut him off, unwilling to hear the continuation his father's tone insinuated. He could hardly even believe Fugaku had thought to go so far as to turn his love for his little brother against him. "You will not blame this on me. You will not turn this into a negotiation. You will do your duty to this family or you will not. I, myself, will do my duty to _Konoha_. Nothing else."

He left his father at the gate, speechless, and strode towards the house without looking back. Mikoto was still on the front steps, watching him warily. He would have given anything to not hear anything more, from anyone, but she was his mother and the look in her eyes made his heart cringe painfully.

"I'm sorry, Itachi," she said softly. She had not expected him to stop and would not have said anything to him otherwise, even though it broke her heart to see him like this. "When I asked your father to make up with you, I… didn't think he would make it worse. I didn't think he could." He did not reply, but the pain in his eyes was plain to see and it mirrored hers.

Fugaku had not always been like this. Serious, yes. Itachi had inherited that trait from him. Tactless, yes. That had gone to Sasuke, who sometimes came across as insensitive, too. But deep down, he was a good man. He loved his sons, that much she was certain of. It was showing that affection that was the problem.

"I will not find him excuses," she said. "His approach was… well, undiplomatic, to say the least. But Itachi… he means well. Do you believe me?"

"Yes," Itachi said. His mother breathed a small sigh of relief. How he hated to disappoint her, as well. "But it changes nothing."

**Incoming rant, skip at your leisure (oh, before you go, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!): there are at least two of you wondering why this story doesn't have more reviews. I, for one, am not surprised. It doesn't have all that many views to begin with. **** The reason for that may as well be the fact that I am bad at writing summaries, although I suspect the real reason to be that "OC" tag. I myself am wary of OCs, mainly because most of them are… well, cardboard figures. With 3 OCs (good thing I didn't mention that in the summary), I guess this story yells **_**"stranger danger!" **_**and keeps readers and potential reviewers away.**

**So, given this, I never expected this story to be a popular one to begin with, in spite of the fact that I consider it to be my best fanfic so far. I won't lie, I wish more people shared their thoughts on it, but I understand those of you who don't.  
**

**The few reviews that I receive matter all the more to me. So, to (at long last) conclude: THANK YOU for bearing with me thus far! **


	10. The Eye of the Storm

**Chapter 10 – The Eye of the Storm**

On the tenth day since Sasuke's departure to the Land of Waves, the skies above Konoha finally clouded over. Rain poured in merciless sheets, threatening through rumbling thunder to drown everything within its reach. After almost a month's worth of drought, the parched ground swallowed it all up as it came. The deluge rapped against Konoha's roofs for a day and a half before stopping, the clouds scattering as quickly as they had gathered.

On the eleventh day, when Itachi stepped out of the house, there was not even a puddle left behind. The only testimony to the rain were the drops still clinging to leaves, glinting in the sun like fireflies at night. He wanted to admire them for some time, knowing their beauty to be ephemeral, but his mind was far away, wondering when (_if?_) Sasuke would return from his mission. It was the first time such thoughts added to his usual load of worries, and not without reason. _A few days_, Sasuke had said before leaving. An escort-type, C-ranked mission.

Traveling to and back from the Land of Waves at a leisurely pace would take 6 days, no more. Itachi had waited. Day after day, he had waited for his little brother to come back. One day late was alright. Perhaps the person they were escorting had been particularly slow. Two days late? Maybe the weather had been bad, or their hosts overly welcoming. Three days late. They may have run into some trouble on their way back, with the recent news of flash floods having swept through the Fire Country. Four days late was a stretch. Five days now…

A spider came out from under a leaf, navigating its raindrop-beaded web to a buzzing fly it had trapped. Itachi watched it for a time, before deciding it reminded him too much of Juri. He could not bear to see it at the moment, so he forced himself to get up from the porch. Waiting around, doing nothing would eventually drive him crazy. Besides, it was almost time for him to keep up his end of a certain bargain.

Konoha's greenery had taken on a vibrant note, the rain having washed every leaf clean of dust. Petrichor lingered in the air, seemingly coming off from every blade of grass and grain of earth. Outside the unusually subdued Uchiha district, the village was teeming with people. After the heat had tormented them for so long and the rain had driven them all inside, they were finally able to rejoice in one, cool afternoon.

Itachi pushed open the gate and walked up to Akane's front door. His first visit after that night, eleven days before, had been the most awkward. Akane had not been in the best of moods and they had ended up just reading together. She had spent the afternoon immersed in a medical tome and he had scoured her bookcase for something of interest, only to end up with nothing more than a depressing poetry book. Regardless, Itachi had not given up and, luckily for him, the second visit had been much improved by the discovery of a _shogi_ table on her back porch. From there on, things had gotten considerably easier.

He knocked at the door and waited. There was no reply, however, and no sound of movement from the other side. Curious. This was his fourth visit, and each time he had come at the same, previously agreed-upon hour. Akane should have been expecting him.

A white cat landed beside him from somewhere above, sitting on its haunches and meowing expectantly. Itachi smiled and lowered himself down on one knee to pet her. "Hello, Kirara," he said. "Where's your mistress?" The cat leaned into his touch, rubbing against his hand affectionately. She was a stray Akane had adopted as a kitten, and she had taken an immediate liking to him. Kirara had been the reason he had managed to pull through that first visit, providing him with a distraction by jumping up behind him on the sofa to play with his ponytail.

A loud caw came from behind him. Itachi looked at the crow flapping its wings in the nearby magnolia tree to catch his attention. He rubbed Kirara under the chin one last time and rose slowly. "I suppose I'm about to find out," he murmured.

It came as little surprise when the crow led him to the ANBU training grounds. He had thought to suggest a sparring session himself to get Akane out of the house for a change, but was even happier to know she had thought of it herself. It made him feel optimistic about their deal, and her progress. As he was treading through the line of trees encircling the target-practice clearing, Itachi was stopped by a familiar, but wholly unexpected voice.

"_Yo_, Itachi. Long time," Kakashi said, raising his eyes from a small book and waving his free hand.

"Kakashi-san?" Itachi asked, unable to believe his eyes. "When did you… where's Sasuke?"

Kakashi seemed surprised, then his expression relaxed into his usual look of boredom. "I don't know. We arrived around noon and he left with Naruto and Sakura. I thought he'd gone home. He certainly didn't seem inclined to join Naruto for ramen, but… well, stranger things have happened, I suppose."

Itachi felt some of the tension leave his muscles. Although he had not come home, at least he knew Sasuke was alright, but that still did not explain their tardiness. "You were still late," he said. "Did something happen in the Land of Waves?"

Kakashi's one visible eye seemed to darken as he assented, and his voice went down. "We got in a bit of a pinch, truth be told. It's not often that a client manages to lie and get a mission misranked, but it happens. In our case, C-ranked turned out to be A-ranked. I decided to go through with it, regardless."

"You what?" Itachi asked, incredulous. Although he trusted Kakashi, he also remembered his former ANBU captain having more sense than this. After all, his students were only _genin, _not a team of seasoned _jonin_.

"_Maa, maa,_ no need to get yourself worked up, Itachi," Kakashi said in response to the irritated look on Itachi's face. "I brought them all home safe, and I daresay they learned a thing or two about teamwork out there. This is how shinobi grow, wouldn't you agree? After all, they can't stay children forever; not in this world. Remember how you were, when you were Sasuke's age."

Itachi sighed. "I never wanted that for Sasuke."

"Even so, he reminds me of you… and I believe everything he does is meant to bring him one step closer to you. I think it's up to him to decide what he wants to do."

Kakashi was hinting at him being overprotective, Itachi gleaned. He could not deny it. Sasuke was his little brother, and he loved him more than anyone in the world, yes. But that same Sasuke was growing up at an alarming rate. Was it that or the fact that soon, he would not be needing him, that scared him the most? Itachi could not say. He preferred to change the subject before his former mentor caught on to him.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" he asked.

"A former student of mine asked for a favor. I couldn't refuse," Kakashi said, motioning with his head towards the clearing.

Itachi had been so worked up over Sasuke, he had hardly noticed the presence of another in their immediate vicinity. His eyes drifted to the familiar figure now standing in the middle of the clearing. _Akane?_ She was holding her left wrist with the other hand, visibly panting and unaware of his presence.

When Akane had been accepted into the ANBU as a candidate, six months after Itachi himself he had joined, Kakashi had been the one in charge of evaluating potential ANBU recruits. Every future ANBU underwent a training-and-trial period, in which they were tested and pushed to the limit in various situations, to better determine their suitability, and more so, their future position within an existing team. Kakashi had been the overseer for Itachi, too. He had not made it easy for him, by any means, especially since one of the openings at the time had been on his own team. In a way, he and Akane had both been Kakashi's students for a time.

Itachi watched her breathe in deeply. Curiosity spurred the sharingan to come to life in his eyes. Akane was gathering chakra in her hand, slowly but steadily. When the amount was just right, she changed its nature and it suddenly became visible, and audible… and unmistakable.

"Chidori?" Itachi asked Kakashi, nonplussed.

"What can I say, she bribed me with an _Icha-Icha Paradise_ spin-off," Kakashi said with a shrug. "But, with her chakra nature being lightning, that should work well for her."

The Chidori chirped loudly as Akane dashed forward, dragging it along the ground before slamming it into a boulder. The _jutsu_ pulverized a good chunk of rock before fading, leaving Akane breathless. The Chidori _would_ work for her, Itachi pondered. Although she was not a sharingan user, she could overcome the technique's main drawback by first immobilizing her target with her clan's shadow _jutsu. _Tunnel vision would hence not be a problem, and with her level of chakra control, she could definitely sustain two _jutsus_ at the same time. All she needed was practice.

"It's a terrible thing when a medic-nin arms themselves," Kakashi mused.

Itachi quirked a brow. "What do you mean?"

"Ah, did I say that out loud?" the older shinobi said, looking embarrassed for a few moments before growing serious once more. "What I meant is that while it's not unusual for a medic-nin to know some offensive techniques, they usually focus more on their defense. Chidori is… well, essentially an assassination tool."

"I am aware of that," Itachi said. No doubt the boulder she had ran through with the Chidori had had Suisen Hyuuga's face on it in her mind, but he could not tell Kakashi that. "However, she _is_ an ANBU member. We prepare for anything." If Kakashi, whom he knew to be a perceptive man, suspected something, he did not say. "What's her current limit?" Itachi asked.

"Hm, it's too soon to say for sure, but judging by her chakra reserves and degree of control, after she gets the hang of it, I'd say probably the same as mine: four. Anything beyond that would be suicide."

Itachi would not put that past her. He made a mental note to keep an eye on her when she returned to the field. Presently, Akane had noticed him and interrupted her training to walk up to them.

"Hey," she said to him, brushing her long ponytail over her shoulder. "Sorry I didn't send word ahead. It was a spur of the moment thing, after the rain stopped."

Itachi shook his head. "This is quite alright. Not far from what I had in mind for today."

She smirked. "Shall we spar, then?"

Itachi hesitated for a moment. His worries over Sasuke had diminished, but not gone off his mind entirely, given that he had not come home after their mission. Kakashi had also come across as rather hesitant regarding the details. Still, he had a taken a responsibility.

Kakashi watched his two former students head to the clearing to face each other. His last decision before retiring from the ANBU to become a teacher had been to assign Akane to Itachi's newly formed team. He had never seen them work together up to that point, but it had been supposed to work out, in theory. Four years later, that theory-based decision seemed to have paid off. Regardless, he was curious to see them up against one another.

A presence materialized beside him, seemingly from thin air, but it did not take him by surprise. Only one person could pull off something like this and he had been in the ANBU long enough to recognize it anywhere. "_Yo_, Shisui."

"Kakashi-san," Shisui said. "I didn't think to find you here."

"Well, I got lost on the path of life and wound up here. I'm feeling nostalgic, so I might stick around for a little longer. What about you?"

"Nothing as random as that. I came for a workout, but it seems this training ground is already taken. Even so, I might stick around with you, if you don't mind. I've been recently assigned to Itachi's team and haven't had the chance to see my teammates in action."

"You, reassigned?" Kakashi asked, pensive.

"It's only temporary," was all he said in reply. Kakashi may have been part of the force once, but no longer. To say anything more of it at the moment would be against regulations.

Itachi stood a few paces across from Akane, his skin tingling in anticipation. It was not that they had not sparred in months, or that he was itching to stretch his muscles, but that he was curious as to the changes in her combat style in the light of the recent events. In some cases, one could glean more information about someone's state of mind from combat than conversation. This was one such case.

"Don't go easy on me, captain," she said.

"That was not an option to begin with," he replied, reactivating his sharingan. It still seared its way through his optic nerve, but the pain had lessened considerably since that first time, after the flash bomb. He was able to keep his eyes open all the way through without tearing up, at least, and it certainly helped, because he had to dodge her first attack almost immediately.

The _kunais_ she had sent flying lodged into the ground instead, and the explosive tags attached to them set off, forcing him even further back. His heart did not skip a beat. His hands launched into a flurry of seals and he drew air into his chest, molding chakra around it. _Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_

From the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow shoot along the ground towards him, having curved around the light from his fireball _jutsu_. She was wasting no time, but neither was Itachi. He sped through another sequence of seals and created two shadow clones. Skillfully evading Akane's shadow _jutsu_, they scattered to circle her.

"_Kagenui no-"_

Akane stopped mid-jutsu, eyes widening in fear. Her throat went dry, the rapidly increasing rhythm of her heart suddenly too loud in her ears. Itachi's face had cracked along one half and pieces were falling off one by one, revealing a pale iris. _The color of crushed worms. _The blood drained from her face as more pieces broke off, revealing more and more of the face which haunted her both day and night. _Suisen._

She snarled, even as a sudden wave of nausea roiled within her stomach. Without thinking, Akane forced chakra into her trembling left hand and a Chidori chirped to life. In the next moment, she was right in front of him, thrusting her hand through his chest. Blood splattered on her face. It was warm and its metallic tint befouled the air, making her stomach turn again. She was glaring into his eyes, waiting to see the light fade from them, when she felt his hand enclose around her forearm.

"This was quick," Shisui said, looking at Akane, who had just launched a Chidori at nothing but empty space. Itachi was standing farther away, completely focused on her. She was currently in his trap, and whatever _genjutsu_ he was weaving, she was falling for it. Hard. Given that she and Itachi had been on the same team for years, Shisui had expected to see more from her in a fight against him.

"No, it's not over yet," Kakashi said, watching Akane's right hand form the release seal as electricity faded from the other. She had figured it out, but had wasted a Chidori. With the two others she had summoned earlier, in training, that made three. Her chakra reserves were less than halved now.

"You… you could… teach Ibiki a thing or two, you know," Akane panted, free from the _genjutsu._

Itachi watched her impassively, waiting to see what her next move would be. The _genjutsu _had been difficult to create, given that he himself had only ever seen Suisen in an old photograph. Even so, he had expected her to break out of it sooner. It had been a cruel thing to do, he knew, but not pointless. He had steeled his heart to do this to Akane only to help her face her fears. He believed her strong enough, but she needed to believe it too.

Akane slowly regained her composure, both mildly irritated and grateful, at the same time, for the brief respite Itachi was giving her. Her body was still shaking, her breathing and heartbeat erratic. Her chakra reserves had dropped below half with the Chidori she had wasted on an illusion. She did not have much time left, and Itachi was not even breaking a sweat yet. Besides, he was already summoning clones. They were still a good distance away though - time enough for her to bring out the defenses. She straightened up, went through the seals and froze, allowing only her eyes to move.

From the tree line at the edge of the clearing, Shisui thought his vision was tricking him. He narrowed his eyes, but his sharingan could not be deceived. Akane's shadow was shifting, tendrils of darkness growing from it in all directions, lengthening, widening, and starting to move seemingly haphazardly. There were nine of them now, and one of them trapped an Itachi clone, instantly forcing it to a halt and causing it to vanish. The resemblance to that sinister monster fox's shadow was unnerving. "What the hell is that?" he asked Kakashi, unsettled.

"That _jutsu_ is what secured Akane's place in the ANBU," Kakashi said.

Itachi and his other clone drew back to the edge, out of the _jutsu_'s reach. Even with the sharingan, he could not dodge every shadow-tail all the way to Akane. Their movement was too erratic; there was no pattern for his _dojutsu_ to pick up. One slip was all it could take, one contact between his own shadow and a tail and he would be immobilized.

"There has to be a drawback," Shisui said. His mind was working over the possibilities of countering such a technique, but he was uncertain he could pass through to the source himself, even with his Body Flicker technique.

"Yes, the biggest one being that she has to remain still for the duration of the _jutsu_," Kakashi said.

"So, a long-ranged attack…"

"Not necessarily. Look," he said, pointing at Itachi and his remaining clone, who had just launched a barrage of shuriken from two directions at Akane. The tails writhed. The shuriken stopped in the air, their shadows trapped not even half-way through, and hovered there for a moment before falling to the ground. A tail swept the ground, catching Itachi's last clone off guard.

"How long can she keep it up, though?"

Kakashi made a low sound in his throat. "Who knows? Four years ago, she could maintain it like this for three minutes. And it did not stop altogether even then: instead, its range and movement speed decreased progressively over an additional two minutes."

"Heh," Shisui said. "Spring that on the enemy and three minutes is more than enough time for the rest of the team to finish them off. But in a one on one match? I thought Naras were supposed to be smart."

Itachi was about to attempt creating another opening for himself when he suddenly sensed her presence behind him. It seemed that at some point, she had created a shadow clone. He dodged the first blow in time, and the next few with relative ease, not surprised at the turn of events. _Taijutsu_ was not her strong suit, but she was keeping him busy enough. No doubt her end game was maneuvering him closer towards the writhing shadow-tails, but he would not allow it.

He parried the edge of her kunai with his own, and stopped a punch with his free hand. They were interlocked now, and in a moment, he would easily overpower her. But then she smirked. A bead of sweat rolled down from her temple. "_Kage no Mai_ – success," she said in between ragged breaths.

Itachi froze. Looking down, he saw one of the dark tails had latched on to his shadow, effectively binding him in place. It had extended beyond the radius of the other eight, which had drawn back an equal distance to compensate. As he was musing on her trickery, Akane pulled back all the tails except the one holding him in place, which she transformed into the Shadow Imitation _jutsu _to allow herself the freedom of moving.

"This was fun," she said, closing the distance between them and placing a kunai at his throat.

"I agree," Itachi said, but his voice came from behind her instead and the cold edge of a blade pressed against her neck. The clone trapped in her Shadow Imitation scattered into a murder of cackling crows. Akane released the breath which had caught in her throat upon sensing his presence behind. She had lost. Again.

* * *

Sasuke played with the flat stone in his hand, throwing it up and catching it again. The sun was going down, turning the water of the lake before him red and orange. Frogs were starting to croak in the reeds on the shore, each one louder than the other. He had lost track of time and could not tell how long he had been there for. He leaned back, assuming the right position to throw the stone. It skipped six times before sinking with a plop.

Parts of him still hurt from the _senbon_ which had pierced his vital points. Most of him hurt inside, though. Had it not been for the enemy's mercy, he would be dead now. Another stone flew, skipping seven times. What had possessed him to throw himself in harm's way like that? And for Naruto, no less. He scoffed inwardly, and launched a third stone, even more viciously than the previous ones. It only skipped twice. _Reckless. _

"Sasuke."

His heart gave a painful twinge at the sound of his older brother's soft voice. He took out another stone from his dwindling collection on the edge of the pier and threw. Itachi did not bother muffle his steps as he walked down to his little brother, who was quite busy ignoring him. Instead, he armed himself with patience and was content to watch quietly, knowing Sasuke to be particularly bad at the waiting game. Indeed, his effort did not take long to pay off.

"How did you find me here?"

Itachi smiled. "You always come here when you're upset."

Sasuke glared at him for the briefest of moments before recomposing his expression into one of feigned indifference. "I'm not upset." He reached down for another stone, but there were no more. He let out a small, frustrated sound and straightened back up, only to see Itachi holding out his hand. A flat stone rested in his palm. Sasuke hesitated, then snatched it sullenly.

_Skip, skip, skip, splash. _"How did you know I was back?" he asked, watching the stone vanish under the sheen of water.

"I ran into Kakashi-san earlier." He caught a glimpse of panic in Sasuke's eyes before he looked away.

"What did he tell you?"

"It's what he didn't tell me that got me worried."

Sasuke plopped down on the edge of the pier, removing his sandals and shoving his feet into the cool water. "I hate it how you always beat around the bush," he muttered. "Sometimes you can come across as really stuck up, you know."

To his surprise, Itachi laughed. "I suppose that's true. I'm sorry, _otouto_. It's just that…" He trailed off, hesitating, only to gain some courage at the sight of Sasuke watching him from the corners of his eyes. "I've been on my guard for so long, I forget how to lower my defenses."

"Why?" Sasuke asked after a few moments of silence.

Itachi felt sadness creep into him at the question. Sasuke was knocking, no, pounding at his walls, and he dreaded to let him into that guarded place within his heart. Shisui always forced _him_ to come out one way or another, never trespassing himself, but his little brother wanted in. What was he to say? That it was the place where he kept the faces of all the men he had killed over the years, his doubts, his worries, his pain, his… darkness? It was the part of himself he kept locked down, hidden from his close ones, because _he_ bore all the scars. He was hideous to behold. His father had gotten a glimpse of him that last time, and he was still not talking to Itachi.

"Because I'm a _shinobi_," he said, at long last. Even without looking, he could tell Sasuke was dissatisfied with his answer. It had been clinical and colder than he had intended, reinforcing the very impression of him his little brother had condemned just moments ago. It hurt. More than any bruise, or cut, or broken bone, it fucking hurt seeing his little brother disappointed in him. "Sasuke…"

But Sasuke stood up abruptly, picking up his sandals. "I'm going home," he said, mirroring Itachi's earlier tone. The words seared their way through Itachi, but he made no move to stop his little brother from leaving. He could not. All the strength appeared to have left his body. _Forgive me, Sasuke, _he thought, _I only want to protect you. _

**_Kage no Mai_ means "dance of shadows"**


	11. In the Blue

**Chapter 11 – In the Blue**

_I could see. _

Sasuke was sitting on the floor in his room, leaning against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. Darkness had been gathering steadily, swallowing up the space, swallowing him. Even so, he had not bothered to turn on the light. His arms hung limply at his sides, overcome by the same numbness which had his soul in its grasp. He could still smell the ice, like something sharp in the air.

_I should be dead._

The bitter thought filled him with horror. His hands shot up to his head, digging into his hair and pulling at it, but the pain searing through his scalp did little to soothe him. Against the thought which had been haunting him day and night for over a week, he was as helpless as he had been back then, trapped between those mirrors, not knowing where the physical pain would come from next.

_Even though I could see._

Anger surged within him, white-hot and almost blinding. His hand curled into a fist and slammed into the wall behind him with enough force to put a hole into it. Blood trickled down along his wrist, but the pain was still nothing compared to the one in his heart. It had been pointless, and all for nothing.

_I would be dead now._

Mercy had stayed death's hand. He hated that thought the most, the thought that he had been pitiful enough in the enemy's eyes to be spared. For all his efforts, he had not even been worth killing. He had been removed from the fight with the amount of interest one might swat away with at a buzzing fly… and then the next thing he knew, Sakura was crushing his chest, bawling all over him. He had been so numb, it had taken several minutes for the pain to register, and hours for it to settle in good. They had all thought him dead.

Sasuke looked at his battered hand, flexing his fingers. Pain shot up from its side to the wrist, but nothing like that one had been. Sometimes it still hurt, where the _senbon_ had pierced him, although it had been a while. Subdued now, yes, but no less of a reminder of what had almost come to pass, of how close he had been to death's gate. Was this what it meant to be a _shinobi?_

Was every mission in a _shinobi's_ life a challenge to the _shinigami_? Would he have to look them in the eyes every time, feel their cold breath down his neck as he fought, day after day, mission after mission? Until when? For what? He wrapped his arms around himself, drew his knees up under them and rested his forehead on the forearms, shivering. He had thought himself ready for this. Thought himself stronger, better, more of a _shinobi_ than this pitiful bundle curled up on the floor. Thought himself an Uchiha.

Itachi face came to mind, and a tear escaped from the corner of Sasuke's eye, burning on the way down his cheek. But even though his brother smiled, he turned and walked away nonetheless. Sasuke tried to run after him, only to realize that he was running in place and his voice was no more than a distant whisper as he called out his brother's name. Light swallowed his _aniki's_ silhouette in the distance even as the shadows engulfed him, drawing him back, further away.

"Sasuke."

Sasuke started, wiping the tears from his eyes. He looked up at the door, but it was shut, much to his relief, and Itachi would never enter without permission. He did not reply, but kept listening. Waiting.

"I brought you dinner."

He heard the distinct sound of a tray being placed on the floor, then nothing. Sasuke had not emerged from his room since coming back from the Land of Waves. It was usually his mother who brought him his meals. She pleaded with him every single time for him to come out, to talk to her. He had not once answered, fearing she would see him like this, fearing his voice would break even if he were to speak from the cover of that closed door between them. Itachi had asked him nothing.

_What good is it that I can see now? I still won't be seen._

The thought brought about a fresh wave of pain. Sasuke gritted his teeth against it, his fist digging into his chest in an attempt to stifle it. Too late. His sharingan had come too late. Like most of his other skills, it had taken him longer and harder work to obtain it. Now that he had it, it brought him no joy, only more bitterness. The distance between him and Itachi seemed to grow more and more with each passing year. Soon, his brother might become the new Hokage. What would he be then? Still a _genin?_ A _chuunin, _at most, he thought with disdain. The gap between them seemed insurmountable already.

Sasuke stood up slowly, leaning against the wall for support. His body had grown numb from having been in the same position for hours. He paused, blinking away the blur of fresh tears. Hunger pangs gnawed at his stomach, reminding him all the more of the fact that he was only human under this _shinobi_ pretense. He wiped at his eyes furiously, then padded to the door.

The light in the hallway hurt his eyes. He shut them, squeezing out even more tears from the endless stream they seemed to have become. When he opened them again, the first thing he saw was his Itachi's face.

Sasuke froze. His brother was sitting on the floor, looking up at him with that unreadable expression he so often displayed nowadays. He was painfully aware of his wet, flushed cheeks and bloody fist, and his first instinct was to shut the door, to retreat back into the darkness which felt like it had become part of him. However, his muscles had locked in place, not responding to his commands. His legs, especially, seemed bent on ignoring him.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked, unable to control neither the tremor, nor the anger which seeped into his voice, now rough from disuse.

Itachi did not move an inch, and even as his eyes fleeted over the telltale signs of anguish, he said nothing of it. "I was wondering if we could talk," he said quietly.

"Stop pretending to care," Sasuke snapped.

To his surprise, Itachi's eyes darkened with sadness, and his lips curled into a bitter smile. "I suppose I've earned that."

It gave Sasuke pause to see his brother look contrite. It usually gave him pause to see Itachi display any sort of emotion, really. Nevertheless, he resented how he always let himself fall for it. In some ways, Itachi's game of cat and mouse was even more draining than their father's constant indifference towards him. But there was that small part of him who always gave in to this game, part of him who still hoped. He wished that part of him had died in the Land of Waves.

"Talk about what?" he asked.

"What happened in the Land of Waves, Sasuke?" Itachi answered with a question of his own, not beating around the bush, for once. It caught Sasuke off-guard and a knot suddenly settled in his throat. His fists clenched at his sides, his right one painfully so. He was disappointed at the lack of control he was displaying in front of his brother, whose reaction to this was bordering on nonexistent. He was, after all, still miles ahead.

_I almost died._ Sasuke's body began to tremble. The more he tried to force himself to remain still, the worse it got. The pressure in his chest returned, making his breath come out fast and shallow. His vision blurred momentarily as his mind returned to those moments in the Demonic Mirroring _jutsu_, to the sensation of cold creeping through his skin, into his flesh, into his very bones. To the pain that had ripped through him when he had jumped in front of Naruto, when he was lying on the ground, defenseless.

Itachi's eyes widened. Sasuke watched him stand up slowly, realizing he could now see his brother with newfound clarity, his every move clear and predictable to the slightest change. He had not even noticed when his sharingan had activated, had not known it could do so of its own accord after manifesting for the first time. There were so many things he had yet to discover about it that his brother probably already knew. It made his own sharingan seem inconsequential.

"Stop staring," Sasuke said. "It's nothing."

"It's not nothing," Itachi replied, then paused. His lips parted, as if he wanted to continue, but stopped himself again. "Why didn't you say anything?" he asked after a while.

Sasuke slumped against the doorframe. "Because it doesn't matter," he reiterated stubbornly. "It's not some great achievement, just something that was bound to happen, eventually. There's nothing for me to be proud of."

Fugaku's words. Fugaku's thoughts. Itachi cringed inwardly. Sasuke had absorbed them like a sponge and did not even realize he was echoing them. Their father's influence finally showing in his little brother bothered him greatly. He reached out, and even as Sasuke flinched, his hand ran through his little brother's soft hair, bringing their heads together, forehead to forehead. "Well, _I'm_ proud of you," he said.

A small breath of surprise escaped through Sasuke's lips. Itachi's forehead was warm against his own, and a smile lingered on his lips. Once again, his brother's overt display of emotion disarmed him so completely he felt his legs growing weak, hardly able to support his weight. Just like his resolve. The sharingan faded, leaving his dark eyes blank. He did not think he had ever felt more tired.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," Itachi said, opening his eyes to meet his little brother's wide, startled ones. "I'm trying. I'll always be here for you. But if you hate me, that's alright too. That's what big brothers are for."

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He felt his heart grow numb, and from there it spread through his bloodstream, numbing every bit of tissue in its wake, like a venom for which the antidote had come too little, too late. He pulled away from Itachi, regarding him impassively. When the words came out, he could hardly recognize his own voice. "Don't you have better things to do?"

No blade had or ever could cut him deeper than Sasuke had just done, with no more than a few words. Itachi took a small step back, feeling himself wither under his little brother's gaze. Cold. Removed. Disdainful, even. He had never before seen him like this.

The pain which briefly showed on Itachi's face failed to give Sasuke the satisfaction he had expected. On the other hand, he felt no guilt over it, either. He was stuck in an emotional limbo of sorts, and found that he liked it. Here, nothing could affect him. Here, nothing hurt. An eye for an eye; he would pay back his father and brother in kind, though he felt the debt could never be settled. Not truly.

If this was what it meant to be a _shinobi,_ so be it. He would become one, if only to spite them both.

* * *

Shisui tossed and turned. The sheets had tangled around him, and he was murmuring in his sleep as he dreamed. It all seemed real, like he had fallen into his own _genjutsu_. The two of them sitting under a rocky outcrop while the snow kept on falling in the darkness outside, the wind ripping through the trees… They had made no fire to avoid detection by the enemy and they were both shivering, even huddled under their ANBU cloaks as they were. The snowstorm showed no signs of abating anytime soon. He was beginning to worry that they would not make it until dawn with all their fingers and toes intact… if at all.

Itachi was shivering even more so than him, pale with cold. Shisui felt a twinge of regret. He could not remember why (and it did not give him pause), but somehow, he knew it was his fault they had ended up in this situation. He chewed on his lower lip; a bad habit he had had since childhood. There was no other way. He unclasped his cloak and moved closer to his companion, ignoring the puzzled look Itachi gave him as he sat down behind him.

"What are you doing?" Itachi asked through chattering teeth.

Shisui ignored him, for fear his voice would falter with embarrassment, and pulled Itachi in his arms, his back against his stomach, covering him as best he could with the sides of his own cloak. He then buried his face in the crook of Itachi's neck, to both hide the flush on his cheeks and take advantage of its warmth. He could feel goosebumps forming on his arms at the contact, and was glad they were covered by his ANBU gloves.

For a while, the only sound was that made by the howling wind. Shisui's heart was beating so fast he was afraid Itachi could feel it against his back, but Itachi was strangely quiet. At least he had stopped shuddering, though he could not tell if he was now asleep. For himself, sleep was proving to be quite elusive, especially in that situation.

A sudden series of loud bangs made Shisui jump, afraid the enemy had found them, afraid they would have to go out in the white hell to fight … and somewhat disappointed he had to untangle himself from around Itachi.

The disappointment lingered as Shisui slowly came to his senses, realizing that he was not out in the snow, but in his own bed, safe at home and warm. What he had thought to be the crook of Itachi's neck had been nothing but the pillow. Flustered, he ran a hand through his hair, slick with perspiration, and sighed. It had only been a dream, after all.

He jumped again when the banging resumed, only a moment later. So, that part had been real. But who would be banging at his door at this hour? He disentangled himself from the sheets and pulled on a shirt before padding out of the bedroom.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," he said, growing slightly irritated as the banging continued. He yawned as he reached for the lock, and then turned knob. He was doubly stunned: once to see none other than Itachi standing on his porch, and then again by the state he was in. "Itachi?" he called out softly, baffled. His friend's downcast eyes were red-rimmed, and deep-set into dark circles.

"I can't sleep," came the reply, barely above a whisper.

Shisui's heart cringed. He had not heard those words from him in years, not since his first few months in the ANBU. That time, his team had been forced to slay an Amegakure incursion at the border, only to realize the enemy consisted of _genin_. Ame had sent teams of younglings ahead as a distraction, while more experienced teams had taken the flanks to advance towards Konoha. The orders had been to neutralize the enemy to the last man, and Team Ro had completed its assignment. Itachi, however, had been devastated by the ordeal. For weeks after that, he had had trouble sleeping. Shisui remembered it all so clearly because Itachi had spent a lot of nights at his place, unable to bear the loneliness and the guilt.

"Come on in. I'll make us some tea," Shisui said, already turning around to make for the kitchen. His thoughts started to race, unchecked, spurred on by an unseen panic. Tonight had been their night off and they had had no other missions lately either. Itachi was guarded enough around Fugaku for his words to ever reach him… and almost everyone else's, for that matter. _Except for Sasuke_, Shisui mused, leaning against the counter after having set the water to boil.

It was only a few minutes later that Shisui walked into the living room, holding two steaming cups of tea. Itachi had already settled on the couch, in his usual spot, by the _bonsai_ cherry tree Shisui had been tending for years. "Shit's been pilling up, huh?" he asked Itachi, more to provoke a reaction than anything, since the answer was already clear as day. But to have any hope of navigating through the ruins of his broken walls, he needed to assess how much damage had been dealt. "How long has it been since you slept?"

Itachi reached out for his tea. The cup burned his fingers, but he hardly seemed to notice, and it was all the confirmation Shisui needed. "Two days," Itachi said.

"You should have said something sooner. I did warn you," he said, his brows furrowing in concern.

_There will be pieces of you scattered from here all the way to the Uchiha district. _"Yeah. You did," Itachi acquiesced.

"Sasuke?" Shisui asked.

At the sound of his little brother's name, Itachi visibly winced. It gave Shisui no satisfaction to know he had hit the mark. He had noticed Itachi being more evasive than usual in the few minutes they had to change into their uniforms before the beginning of their shift, but had not thought much of it. A lot had been going on in his life lately, more than Shisui himself would have liked to handle, if their roles were reversed.

"I'm losing him," Itachi said quietly.

Shisui took a sip of tea, but it seared his tongue, so he put the cup back down and sighed. He was an only child himself, therefore he was not sure he could empathize with him all the way, but Itachi needed him right now, and he would not balk. "Sasuke's growing up, Itachi. There's nothing you can do to change that. Besides, you've always had a target on your back; your father made sure of that. For the longest time, all your brother wanted was to be like you. It's only natural for him to start wanting to surpass you."

"It's not his ambition that worries me, it's how much that ambition resembles my father's."

"In the sense that he would sacrifice anything for power? I disagree. Sasuke is not Fugaku. Even if he does stray, at some point he'll remember that he once had you there for him. He'll come around."

"And if he doesn't?"

Shisui smiled. "You'll be a good brother and remind him."

Itachi reached out for the tea. It had cooled enough for him to drink, and he took a sip. His face scrunched up at what he could only describe as a bitter, woodsy taste. "What is this?" he asked.

"Valerian root tea," Shisui said, chuckling at Itachi's expression. "It's to help you sleep. Or, I could just knock you out with a _genjutsu_, if you prefer," he added when he saw his friend getting ready to set the cup down and forget all about it.

Itachi considered his options and drank. He knew Shisui to be more creative than him when it came to _genjutsu_, and much more adept. Besides, the taste of backyard was not so prominent anymore, after having downed half the cup. He could finish the rest holding his nose.

"I can never thank you enough," he said, feeling his mind slowly going numb. After having hoarded worries and guilt worse than a squirrel stashing nuts for the winter, it was a greater relief than he had felt in a long time. His bloodshot eyes were stinging from exhaustion and his eyelids were getting heavier. It was not the tea - it could not have worked its magic so soon. Rather, it had been Shisui. His presence had always been like a balm to his soul.

"It's a good thing you don't have to," Shisui replied with a smirk. "That's what friends are for."

"Mind if I lie down here?" Itachi asked, starting to sound as drowsy as he was feeling.

"Not at all," he said.

Itachi finished the tea and lay down on his side, sliding an arm under his head for support. The darkness behind his closed eyelids was not so frightening anymore now that he was not alone. Shisui's unconcealed chakra was radiating soothingly, like the first warm rays of sun in spring. Itachi cracked his eyes open to see his friend sitting on the floor, across the low table, staring into his cup of tea. It struck him that Shisui looked almost sad, but it was his last coherent thought before he slipped back into the darkness.

Shisui waited for Itachi to fall asleep, not wanting to leave him alone. He propped up his head with an arm and started tracing the rim of his cup with an index, before taking a sip. He pursed his lips. It really was bad. After that last time, he had stocked up on teas that were said to help with sleep, hoping against hope he would never again see Itachi in that state. It dawned on him that years had passed since then and he stared into the cup, flabbergasted. Were old herbs ineffective or more potent? He mentally kicked himself for the slip, hoping he had not just poisoned them both.

Itachi's breathing slowed and deepened. His chakra began to move sluggishly, while also dimming somewhat. There were no clearer signs than that, and Shisui finally allowed himself to leave his side for a few moments. He moved like a shadow across the living room and into the bedroom, returning with a blanket, which he gently draped over Itachi. He then went back to his place to finish his tea. If it did turn out to be poison, their deaths would at least be a bit poetic.

Shisui rested his arms on the table and laid down his head on them. His eyes lingered on Itachi, who always looked so peaceful when he slept. Serene, even. They trailed over the deep lines on his face, up to the long, dark lashes now lowered against the cheeks and along the jaw, coming to rest on his neck. A shiver ran through him as slivers of the dream he had had came back to him. But this longing always mixed with guilt, eventually. He tore his eyes away, hiding his flushed face in the crook of his arm.

Itachi would never know. That much, Shisui had been adamant on since the first time he had realized the exact depths of his affection for him. If either of them had been born a woman, instead, he had no doubt they would have married and bickered into old age. The thought made him smile every time, but it was bitter now, because he could feel his own walls shaking in the aftermath of his sleeping mind's betrayal.

_What cruel games we play with ourselves to protect the ones we love_, he thought darkly before allowing sleep to overcome him. It was, alas, mercifully dreamless.

**Mkay, I'll admit I took a major liberty with Shisui in this chapter, but given that we've seen so little of him in the anime, I thought he had a lot of unexplored potential as a character. Everyone has secrets, everyone has their own battles deep down. I felt compelled to shove some skeletons in his closet for reasons of depth.  
**

**The title refers to a feeling divers can experience when they dive deep enough to reach the point where they can't tell which way to the surface or to the bottom. Everything is the same shade of blue, all around. I thought the feeling would be an accurate description of what all three Uchihas in this chapter experience, each in their own way.**

**Thank you for your thoughts and words of encouragement so far! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	12. Penumbra

**Chapter 12 – Penumbra**

_Don't you have better things to do?_

In the hazy state between sleep and wake, his little brother's voice haunted him. Like in an endless cavern, the words bounced off the walls of his mind, producing a lasting echo that ripped through him like a barrage of shuriken. He had heard this before, some distant part of him realized. That did not make it hurt any less.

_I'm tired of your games, Itachi._

Sasuke's face flashed before his eyes, ghostlike, his once kind onyx eyes now a wicked red. Itachi felt like he was floating, lost and adrift in this dark space where there was neither up nor down.

_I'll be playing by my own rules from now on._

He had no strength in him to move a single muscle.

_And one day…_

No will.

_I'll _make_ you see me._

Itachi's eyes snapped open, blinking away the blur of sleep as he sat up, consumed by a state of panic. The room, basked in a gauzy, grey light, was unfamiliar to him at first. Then the memories returned to him, one by one. Stumbling over to Shisui's place. Chatting with him. That horrible tea. Itachi rubbed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. His temples were throbbing and his throat felt like sandpaper.

He moved to get off the couch when his gaze fell upon Shisui, who was sleeping, slumped over the coffee table. He had not left his side, Itachi realized with a twinge of guilt. No doubt he would be sore all day from sleeping in that uncomfortable position for half the night. He got up, taking the warm blanket he had tossed aside earlier to drape it over Shisui. Then, he treaded quietly towards the kitchen to get himself a glass of water.

The few hours he had slept could hardly compensate for the many he had not. Dreams mingling with memories had certainly not helped. Two days without sleep and his mind was already turning on him, pushing at what remained of his sanity. At this rate, he would be slipping down an all too familiar slope in no time. He could not afford it.

He set water to boil and started to raid Shisui's cupboards. He was looking for black tea, but found none. In its absence, green would have to do, Itachi decided, grabbing an untouched pack of _sencha_. He then proceeded to raid the fridge, which proved to be equally ill-equipped to deal with basic human needs. _What the hell, Shisui?_ he wondered, checking the lonely egg carton for the expiration date just to make sure he was not about to kill them both with breakfast.

Shisui woke up to the smell of _omurice _and thought he was dreaming. Half his body was stiff. He had not fallen asleep with his head on the table since that first time he had tried _sake_, shortly after turning twenty. He had liked the taste; not so much the following morning's headache. Presently he stretched and yawned, grateful he had only had tea this time.

A blanket fell from his back – the one he had covered Itachi with last night. He stared at it, befuddled, becoming increasingly more aware that the smell of food was not only in his imagination. Itachi never stayed. Shisui would always wake up in the morning to a note of either thanks or apologies, depending on his friend's mood. _Am I dreaming again?_

Itachi flipped the last _omurice_ onto a plate, took it to the table and turned off the stove. Everything was ready, and all there was left for him to do was wake up Shisui. He turned around, fumbling with the apron's knot, only to find Shisui already standing in the doorway with the most peculiar expression on his face. "_Ohayo_," he said, a bit uncertainly.

"Mornin'," Shisui replied, instantly reverting to his usual cheerful self. "You've been busy."

"Just a little," Itachi admitted. "I didn't have much to work with. You're supposed to stock up every once in a while, you know."

Shisui brushed a hand through the hair at the back of his head, grinning. "Yeah, sorry about that. I'm bad in the kitchen, so I prefer eating out to setting my house on fire. Such is the life of a bachelor." He joined Itachi at the table and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "This looks delicious! _Itadakimasu!_"

They ate quietly, and for a time, the only sound in the kitchen was the birdsong coming in through the open window. The day was overcast, but it did not seem bent on raining just yet. Shisui finished first and leaned back in the chair, rubbing his stomach with satisfaction. He had not had a homemade meal in quite some time and it seemed Itachi had inherited his mother's knack for magic in the kitchen. He reached out for the tea and sipped contentedly… only to nearly spit it out in the next second. "What the hell is this?" he asked, after finally managing to force himself to swallow the bitter brew.

Itachi smirked, calmly sipping from his own cup. "Payback."

"I hate tea," Shisui said sullenly, even as he secretly rejoiced. It was not often that Itachi showed his sense of humor.

"It's good for you. Besides, if you hate it so much, why do you have it in the house?"

_Because you like it,_ Shisui thought, a decidedly warm feeling fluttering within him. He smiled, but was unable to bring himself to say those few words. This thing they had, this old friendship… it was more precious to him than his own foolish feelings. He would do nothing to endanger it. "Because you never know when a tea-lover might show up at your place in the middle of the night."

Itachi put his cup down, smiling. The last few nights had been hell, but he had reached out a hand and Shisui had been there, as always, to grab a hold of it. To help him see the light and start crawling his way out of the maelstrom. "Thanks, Shisui," he said, even though words would never be enough to express his gratitude.

A small figure suddenly jumped onto the window sill, alerting both Uchihas. Shisui was already halfway up from his chair, when the small monkey started jumping up and down in panic at his hostile reaction. "Itachi-saaan!" it shrieked, jumping behind the younger Uchiha's back for cover. Shisui stopped at that, recognizing the squeaky voice of one of the Hokage's summons. "Sorry, Saruko-chan, I didn't mean to scare you," he admitted to the little monkey, whose eyes had filled with tears of fright. She was only a messenger, and a very anxious one at that.

Itachi gave his friend a puzzled look, but Saruko interrupted him by jumping on his shoulder. "Itachi-san, I've been looking for you everywhere! Hiruzen-sama wishes for you to gather your team and report to him within the hour!"

"Thank you, Saruko. Tell Hokage-sama it will be done," Itachi said.

The little monkey wiped its tears and nodded, then swiftly hopped out through the window. Shisui stood up, claiming to go get some scrolls for them to notify the rest of the team. Itachi briefly wondered if he was only putting off the inevitable. Then he bit his thumb to draw blood and formed the summoning seals. Two crows appeared. One of them immediately started pecking at the remains of his _omurice_ rather boldly. By the time Shisui reappeared, Itachi's plate was empty.

"How did you not recognize Saruko?" Itachi asked as he unfurled two scrolls and started writing the messages for Tenzo and Tsume. If Shisui had expected him to hold back, he showed no sign of hesitation with his reply.

"My vision isn't what it used to be," he said. Itachi looked up, troubled by both his words and the gravity of his tone. "If you ever awaken the Mangekyou yourself, Itachi, you should know that it has this effect on the user."

"Blindness?" Itachi asked.

"Eventually." _One always pays a price for power_, Shisui mused darkly. In all things, there had to be balance. This was nature's way of balancing an Uchiha. "At first, the blur is temporary and lasts for only a little while after you use the Mangekyou. In time, however, the effect starts lasting longer and longer, until it becomes permanent. From there on, it only deteriorates. The Mangekyou eventually seals itself, leaving the user in complete darkness."

"How long…?"

Shisui thought about it. "Well, I've been using mine for years and my vision is now permanently impaired. I figure I still have a couple of years or so, however, depending on how much I use it."

Itachi was at a loss for words. Shisui had been keeping this from him. All this time, Shisui had known all his secrets and he himself had never even noticed something was amiss about his closest friend. He dropped his head in shame.

"Don't give me that," Shisui said with a smile. "I did plan to warn you if you ever got the Mangekyou yourself."

Itachi shook his head. "That's not it."

Shisui caught on. "It's not that I didn't trust you. There was just no point in burdening you with it. And in any case, there's nothing you or anyone else could do about it."

"So, they couldn't be healed?"

Shisui smiled sadly. "I'm afraid not," he said. He had come to terms with the prospect of stumbling around in darkness within the next few years. Itachi would have no doubt felt the same, if it had been him facing this situation instead. Alas, Shisui was someone he cared about, which meant he would not make peace with the notion anytime soon.

"I could ask Akane…"

"There's really nothing she can do."

"How do you know, when you haven't even tried?"

"Remember what I said, Itachi. The Mangekyou seals itself in time. It's not something that can be fixed."

"You could stop using it altogether."

"It would be a gamble between fucking up on the job, with the distinct possibility of death hanging above me and my teammates, and keeping what remains of my sight for an extra few years. Some things are meant to be. Please, let it go. We should be getting ready to leave, anyway."

Itachi gritted his teeth and said nothing more. He finished the messages, rolled up the scrolls and attached them to the crows' legs. The two Uchiha watched them fly out the window, each bird then taking a different direction.

"Between the two of us," Shisui said, "this summons can only mean one thing."

Itachi could not agree more.

* * *

Team Yon assembled on the roof of the Hokage Tower fifteen minutes before their hour was up. The mass of clouds looming in the sky had taken on a darker hue and the air was heavy with the scent of impending rain. As if to confirm that, thunder rumbled morosely. A vanguard consisting of a few, fat drops hit the ground not long afterwards, but the four ANBU had already stepped into the Hokage's office, awaiting their orders.

Hiruzen regarded the people standing before him as he drew smoke from his pipe. _Four, not five, _he thought, his eyes finally coming to rest solely on the young man who stood a step closer to him than the others. "Itachi, I see you have not reinstated Akane," he said.

"No, Hokage-sama," the young Uchiha replied. "She has not yet fully recovered."

Hiruzen nodded in assent. After a few moments of quiet consideration, he spoke again. "I hereby rescind Team Yon's interdiction to leave Konoha. We have received word from the Land of Tea that two people wearing black cloaks with red clouds have been seen passing through the local countryside."

Itachi's muscles stiffened. While both him and Shisui had anticipated this, he could not help but recall his team's last encounter with this particular enemy. Without a healer, he feared this mission would turn out to be even more disastrous than the last. Hiruzen, however, had already taken that aspect into consideration, and was quick to set his mind at ease.

"As your team is currently without its medic-nin, I will change the parameters of your mission accordingly," he said. "You are to investigate, but should you encounter the enemy, do not engage. If they attack you, retreat at the first opportunity. Find out all you can about them, without taking any unnecessary risks. You leave tomorrow, at dawn."

"Understood," Itachi said.

It had begun to rain in earnest in the meantime. When the four of them paused in a secluded spot to talk, Tsume wrinkled her nose. "This stinks," she said morosely.

"That's putting it rather bluntly," Tenzo said, "but I agree with you. Last time, we couldn't even retreat."

"I meant the rain, it smells like toads," she argued. "But yeah, the mission, too. Intel gathering? That means infiltration. We're assassination and tactical squads, combat-types. He could have sent a regular team."

"We did intelligence gathering before, too," Itachi reminded her. "Although back then, we were dispatched as a precaution, because we didn't know what we were up against. Even we had a hard time when they ambushed us. A regular team wouldn't stand a chance if they were caught."

Tsume bit her lip. "And _we_ do?" she asked, sounding so very unlike herself. Itachi was taken aback at the words. They were coming from the same woman who used to boast she had scared her husband away with her power. This was one of the cracks Akane had mentioned, he realized. During the fight, Tsume had been incapacitated from the start, but although she had not shown any outer signs of anguish, the poison had targeted her fear center. She had suffered. She bore scars of her own. However, unlike Akane, she had done this by the book. Tsume had been cleared for duty by both her medic and her rehabilitation supervisor.

"If we don't, no one does," Itachi said. "But it won't get to that this time. I won't allow it."

Tsume scoffed, yet voiced no more complaints. For a while she had considered retiring to the regular _jounin_ forces. ANBU was a place for the young and able, highly demanding on both body and mind. She had had her fair share of adventure in the field, and the toll it had taken on her over the years was starting to show. Besides, she had children to think of, unlike her teammates. In the event of her death, Hana would take care of Kiba, no doubt, but she would have liked to see them both into adulthood herself. She would have liked to hold her grandchildren someday. She shook her head to dismiss such thoughts. _I'm not dead yet,_ she argued inwardly. _Why am I talking as if I'm a decrepit _babaa_ halfway down into my grave? _

At first, Tsume had had her doubts upon being assigned to team Yon, under the youngest captain the ANBU had ever had. In four years, Itachi had proven himself to be as competent as his older counterparts, if not more so. She trusted him. She trusted all of them, even newly-joined Shisui Uchiha, whose prowess was known even beyond the borders of the Fire Country. Spending so much time away, this team had become like a second family to her. She could not abandon the fight now. It would be cowardly of her and Tsume knew she would never be able to forgive herself.

"So," she said, scuffing the ground with the tip of her sandal. "Who's gonna tell princess we're doing this without her?" Tsume had a habit of still referring to Akane by her oldest given codename, which had been _Hime_. It had stuck on her tongue because the girl used to be so damn dignified (borderline stuck-up) all the time. She used it in a less derogatory way now, than during their first year together on the team, and in any case, Akane had never complained.

"I am," Itachi said.

_Brave man_, she thought. "Well, if there's nothing else, we should probably get ready for tomorrow. By the way, captain, if I were you, I'd lay off the ladies for one night and get some rest," she smirked. "You look like shit."

Shisui guffawed. Itachi himself could not stop a smile from reaching his lips. In spite of everything, at the end of the day Tsume would still be Tsume, and he was glad for it. Before Shisui, she had been the only one on team Yon with a decent shred of humor. "Alright then," Itachi said. "I'll see you all at the gate tomorrow, at first light. Dismissed."

Tenzo and Tsume took off. Shisui lingered for a moment longer. "My door's open if you think you can't manage to rest tonight," he said to Itachi. "There's still plenty of that tea left, too."

Itachi chuckled. "I might take you up on that, actually. I just have some things I need to do before I join you. Will that be alright?"

"Sure thing. I'll see you later," he said before vanishing.

Itachi could not have been more grateful to him for the offer. Although he had to drop by his own house to shower and pack, he would have preferred not to linger there. Even better, not to run into either his father or his little brother. He did not think himself able to take on yet another confrontation in such a short span of time, especially with the coming mission.

* * *

"Down, Kirara. No kitty paws on the counter," Akane said, eyeing the nimble animal even as she kept on stirring the liquid bubbling in the pot. Kirara conformed without a sound of protest, then proceeded to watch her mistress from the floor instead. After a short while, she was rewarded with a gentle scratching behind the ears and a familiar clinking sound. Smells better than the one coming from the pot wafted in the air now, and Kirara went to her bowl to enjoy the treat.

There was a knock at the door. Akane stood up, tossing the empty can of cat food before making her way across the house. She was not expecting anyone, least of all the person she found standing on her porch. "Itachi," she said, not bothering to conceal her surprise. He was both a couple of hours earlier than their usual appointed time, and one day late. On top of that, her trained, critical gaze could not help but notice the dark circles under his eyes. It was like looking in a mirror.

"Hi," he said. "I apologize for not making it yesterday. I was wondering if…"

"It's alright," Akane replied, stepping aside as an invitation. "I was just making some miso soup. You can join me for… the meal," she finished after a moment's hesitation. It was too late for lunch and too early for dinner.

"I don't mean to intrude."

"Nonsense."

Itachi followed Akane inside, running a hand through his wet hair. The rain showed no signs of abating, and he had neglected to take an umbrella from home. He hoped the change of clothes in his backpack had not gotten soaked. A towel landed in his arms before he had even registered it coming his way. "Dry up," she said. "You're going to catch a cold."

Itachi removed the elastic band from his hair before rubbing it thoroughly with the towel. He then laid the towel out to dry and joined Akane in the kitchen, following the familiar smell of homecooked food. Kirara was too busy grooming herself to greet him, after what appeared to have been a wholesome meal. Akane was currently busy washing greens for the soup.

"Do you need any help?" he asked.

"No, I think I have it under control," she said, but was unable to help herself from wondering. "You know how to cook?"

Itachi smiled, fond of the memories her question brought back. "I used to help my mother in the kitchen when I was little. Then I sort of took over the kitchen during the first few months she was pregnant with my little brother, because she could barely stand the smells. When did you learn?" He knew her favorite food was sushi, but had had no idea she could cook, even after the recent spike in the amount of time they spent together outside of work.

Akane picked up a knife from the stand. "After my parents died."

Her mother and father had both died on the night of the _kyuubi's_ attack on Konoha. Akane's memories of that night, specifically the distant images of the frightful monster raging on the horizon, had inspired her signature _jutsu_, the Dance of Shadows. That much he had known, as well as the fact that she had lived with her older brother for years afterwards. It saddened him to glean that a teenager Enki had found caring for his seven-year old sister too troublesome to bother himself with cooking.

"Why are you here, really?" she asked as she started cutting the greens for the soup. There was a definite amount of certitude in her question. As if she had somehow borrowed Shisui's uncanny aptitude, Akane had seen right through him. He did not even bother to wonder what had given him away.

"We're leaving on a mission tomorrow," he said, his tone making it clear enough that the 'we' did not include her. "Black cloaks with red clouds have been spotted in the Country of Tea and Hokage-sama wants us to investigate."

Even without the sharingan, it was plain for him to see how the hand holding the knife began to tremble. She paused from cutting the vegetables, aware of that herself. For what seemed like the longest time, neither of them said anything. Then the sound of metal against wood resumed, as Akane continued chopping ingredients for the soup. "Is it…"

_Them_, she had meant to ask, only the word had not come out. Itachi gracefully picked up her meaning. "We don't know. In any case, Hokage-sama doesn't want us to engage them."

Not that it mattered, Akane thought, dropping the greens and tofu into the pot and giving it a good stir. It had not, before, and it certainly would not this time around. "Come taste this," she said after a while. Itachi padded over and took the proffered porcelain spoon, blowing cool air at it before tasting. It was tasty, but…

"It's rather salty," he said. The words had come out before he could stop them. He should have lied, part of him thought guiltily. It would have certainly spared him the potential trouble of insulting his host's cooking. However, he realized he had experienced the uncomfortable sensation before. She had been lying in a hospital bed then, and while much had happened in the meantime, this one fact had not changed. For all his shinobi training, he was incapable of lying to this woman's face.

For her part, Akane seemed genuinely surprised instead of upset. The look did not disappear from her face even as she tasted the soup herself. "You really think so?" she asked, perplexed that she could not perceive it as such. "Strange. I'll add more water, if…"

"No, no, leave it like that," Itachi said quickly. "Water would ruin the flavor."

They enjoyed a quiet meal. With both her and Shisui, Itachi had realized how his appetite improved when there was no one to be tense around at the dinner table. After half a bowl, the miso soup did not taste so salty anymore, and he dared even ask for seconds. Akane watched him, bemused, wondering if he was secretly a masochist. While she could not taste the excess salt herself, she had not expected him to finish even one bowl of soup. She hoped he would not get sick from forcing himself to eat.

"I'll do the dishes," he offered, after they had both finished eating, and did not wait for her confirmation before grabbing the bowls and getting to it.

Akane watched him, absently running a hand along Kirara's back. The white cat had settled in Itachi's recently vacated seat, taking advantage of the lingering warmth. "I've been meaning to ask," Akane said, after having turned the question over and over in her mind for the past few days. "Is something bothering you about your sharingan?" She saw him pause for a moment.

"Why do you ask?"

"The day we sparred… when you activated it, you seemed like you were in pain."

Itachi finished rinsing the dishes and moved on to wiping them with a clean cloth. Leave it to a medic-nin to notice the slightest narrowing of his eyes in response to the burning sensation which had plagued him ever since that flash bomb. "It's better now," he said.

"When did this start?" She had read the report, so she would know about the flash bomb. The pain in his eyes, however, he had left out from the account. He told her as much now.

"Would you allow me to have a look at it?" she asked.

Itachi hesitated. Like his own, the dark circles under Akane's eyes looked almost like bruises. Whatever she had been up to lately, she did not seem up to such a delicate task. However, he needed his sharingan in top shape for the mission. There was no telling how much damage had been done the first time. Shisui's troubles with the Mangekyou were still fresh on his mind. He realized he could not afford for there to be a second time.


	13. Long Reach

**Chapter 13 – Long Reach**

Itachi joined Akane in the living room, where they sat side by side on the couch. She placed the tips of her fingers in front of his eyes and green chakra began to glow, making his skin tingle. "I'll make an assessment to the best of my ability, but given that I've never studied the sharingan's inner workings before, it might not be easy. In any case, I'm ready. Activate it," she said.

Red bled into black and he forced himself to keep his eyes open against the pain. "The damage was done to the visual receptors," she told him after a few minutes, during which the burning sensation had gradually dissipated, down to a mild discomfort. "That causes your chakra, which essentially feeds them, to distribute unevenly and inconstantly among the remaining ones, both partially damaged and healthy. Because of that strain, the chakra pathways have likely suffered, as well."

"Is it…" _Permanent? _He did not think he could stomach such news.

"If I heal the receptors, the rest should go back to normal on its own, in a few days. The pain will lessen, but not disappear until then. Although I would advise against using the sharingan for about a week, at the very least don't overuse it. Now, hold still," she said. The tingling sensation intensified. Her healing chakra seeped into his eyes, and its green glow suffused his field of vision. Warm and pleasant, it pooled behind his eyelids, and the lingering discomfort faded altogether. Relief washed over him.

Itachi was soon alerted by a small hiss of pain. The healing chakra died down. Akane was holding her left hand, the skin on it cracked and burned. She quickly covered it with her right hand, but he had already seen. _Chakra burns_, he realized. She had been playing too much with Kakashi's lightning style _jutsu_ and healing his sharingan had likely reopened the wounds. "Didn't I ask you to take it easy?" he asked.

Akane stood up slowly, cradling her injured hand. She did not reply, turning to walk towards the bathroom instead, likely to clean and wrap up her wounds, since she could not use more chakra to undo that sort of damage. Halfway across the room, Itachi's sharingan caught her stumbling before she even began to fall. For the first time in a long time, he cursed under his breath.

Itachi made it in time to break her fall, and Akane's limp body slumped against his. He could feel her light breath against the skin on his neck. Her hair smelled like cherries and it tickled his cheek. She was warm, but her chakra levels were dangerously low. Somehow, she had managed to keep that from him. Just how hard had she been training lately? Did the third training ground still exist or had she turned it into a pile of rubble? _You reckless fool,_ he thought dismally, hoisting her up in his arms.

He carried her into the bedroom to lay her down on the bed. She was unlikely to wake up for hours, which was alright, considering she was in dire need of rest. Becoming unconscious was one way to obtain that, however unorthodox, Itachi mused. A sigh escaped his lips. He remained by her side for a few long moments, unsure what to do. He then gently brushed a lock of hair from her forehead before walking out of the room.

* * *

When Akane came to, it was dark. She sat up groggily, rubbing her eyes with the back of one hand, only to realize something felt odd about it. Her left hand was wrapped up in clean bandages halfway up her forearm. The last thing she remembered was the bright red of the sharingan through the green wisps of her healing chakra. _Itachi_, she thought, pulled from her numbness by a sudden surge of panic. She jumped from the bed and rushed into the hallway, only to halt, momentarily blinded by the light.

Itachi was pulling on his sandals when Akane burst out of the bedroom. He watched her, wondering if she would collapse again, but she seemed quite stable on her legs this time. Sleeping through the night after who knew how long had brought some color to her cheeks, he was pleased to note.

He smiled when her gaze fell upon him, utterly befuddled. "Good morning," he said.

Akane's eyes flitted to the clock ticking on the wall in front of her, before returning to him, now filled with concern. "You stayed," she whispered. "You… I'm sorry. This was unnecessarily bothersome."

"I couldn't leave you here, alone and unconscious."

She slumped against the wall, massaging the bridge of her nose. Itachi picked up his backpack and put it on. He only had a couple more minutes left, if he did not want to be late. He was about to say goodbye when Akane made a small sound, giving him pause. Her eyes were filled with tears, which quickly started rolling down her cheeks, one after another.

_Tsume falling limp behind her. Kuromaru slammed into the tree. His heart stopping. Those eyes. Those pale, wicked eyes._

"Stay alive," she said with as much strength as she could muster.

Itachi found himself at a loss for words. She was terrified, he realized. Afraid she would lose her teammates, her friends, so soon after very nearly losing herself in the darkness. Her shoulders shuddered. Her arms wrapped around herself like those times before, a clearly defensive gesture. She was shielding herself, afraid of grief. Of loneliness. Of him whose shadow still loomed over her.

"Akane." When she looked up, Itachi poked her gently in the forehead. "I'll see you soon," he said with a smile.

* * *

Itachi was the last of team Yon to arrive at the gate, though he was not one minute late. None of them were wearing their ANBU gear, only the _hitai-ate_ which identified them as Konoha shinobi and the standard, white traveling cloaks. It had rained throughout the night, and even though it had stopped for the time being, the air remained cool and humid. The cloaks would provide them with much needed cover in such weather.

"Are you all ready to go?" Itachi asked them.

"Ready when you are, captain," Tsume replied with a grin. Kuromaru, who had been sitting beside her, stood up on all fours and shook the raindrops from his coat. Shisui pushed himself away from the tree he had been leaning against, together with Tenzo.

They set out through the woods at a brisk pace, which would get them to the border with the Country of Tea within two days. Once there, they would forsake traveling shinobi-style and take to the roads instead, making discreet inquiries from village to village. Itachi was running over the itinerary in his head once more when Shisui matched his pace, breaking formation.

"You didn't take Tsume-san's advice, I see," he said with a smile. "Did you get _any_ sleep?"

"About four hours, actually," Itachi replied. "Sorry I didn't make it. Something came up." He redirected his eyes ahead, at Tsume, who was at the front of the group together with her _ninken_, and Tenzo close behind her. Shisui and him were now both forming the rear. This close to Konoha, however, there was little risk in them breaking formation for a little while.

"Mikoto-san is worried about you."

Itachi cast him a surprised glance. "My mother?"

"She came by my place yesterday evening, thinking you were spending the night over. Brought us dinner. I packed half of it for you, by the way."

"I'm sorry to cause you trouble."

"It's no trouble. I had a kingly feast," Shisui said with a smirk, before growing serious. "It's not my place to tell you what to do, Itachi, but… your mother is a bit caught in the middle, don't you think?"

Itachi sighed. "I know." Shisui had lost his parents years before. His father had fallen ill from a wound and died, a late victim of the Third Shinobi World War. Shisui's mother had never recovered from the grief of losing her husband and had eventually taken her own life. His friend had a different perspective on things Itachi took for granted. "I'll talk to her when we get back."

Shisui nodded, satisfied with the answer, and sped up to retake his position as the third in line. Curiosity had almost gotten the better of him, since it was now clear to him that Itachi had spent the night neither with him, nor at home, but it was not his place to be indiscreet. Besides, he had an inkling. The Dance of Shadows might have ensnared his friend, after all. The thought made him smile, in spite of the dull ache blooming in his chest.

They paused twice during the day and kept at it until a little before sundown, when Itachi decided to call it a day. They had traveled a good distance, slightly more than he had anticipated after their two-week break from outbound missions, and there was no point in pushing themselves to exhaustion. In the dying light of sunset, they set up their camp for the night and gathered wood.

One _Goukakyuu no jutsu_ later, the pile of wood took flame, keeping the encroaching darkness at bay. Since they were still in the Land of Fire, it was safe enough for them to have light and warmth throughout the night. Tenzo, who had initially left to scout the area ahead, returned with five, fat trout for them to cook over the fire, leaving their remaining food provisions for the morning. Thanks to his use of Water Style, he had managed to catch the fish without getting himself wet.

"Call me masochistic, but I missed this," he said as they were waiting for the fish to cook on the improvised spits.

"_Che_," Tsume scoffed. "Getting melancholic over not having slept in the woods for a while now, Tenzo? It hasn't been that long since my back hurt from sleeping on the ground, you know."

"If I wanted to patrol the streets every night, I would have signed up with the Police Force. And in any case, I did offer to create the _Rakuyouan _for us to sleep in."

"We should preserve our chakra," Itachi intervened. "Your Four-Pillar House technique takes too much of that to build, Tenzo. Besides, the ground here is dry, and the weather is fine. We'll get proper lodgings tomorrow, once we get across the border."

"Does the budget allow it, or do we have to pitch in?" Tsume asked, wrinkling her nose.

"For this kind of mission, the usual budget allows for more travel expenses. We should be fine, so long as you don't expect more than a modest dinner and a roof over your head."

"As long as we can afford the luxury of clean sheets, anything's fine by me… and speaking of luxuries," Tsume trailed off as she started digging through her backpack, "I've just remembered I have this." She pulled out a small box and opened it to take a pinch of its content, which she then heavily sprinkled on her fish. "Anyone want salt?" she asked.

Shisui and Tenzo both jumped at the offer. A traveling shinobi only packed essentials, in order to carry as light a load as possible. Salt was indeed a luxury to those who often ate food without it while on the road. "Itachi?" Tsume asked, holding out the little box as an invitation.

For a moment, he had been too lost in thought to react, the taste of a too-salty _miso_ soup lingering on his tongue. "Thank you, Tsume-san," he said, taking a small pinch. It sizzled as he sprinkled it over his half-done fish. A log fell, making the fire crackle and a swarm of sparks shot up towards the night sky. The heat on his face was pleasant, comforting almost.

Shisui reached out to turn his fish, noticing it was getting charred on one side, when a flame licked up the side of his hand. "I might have been overly enthusiastic with that fireball," he said.

"How many _Suiton _users does it take to douse one of your full-blown _Goukakyuu_s, Shisui-san?" Tenzo asked.

"More than the enemy usually has," Shisui replied, sounding more embarrassed than proud to admit it.

"It's not the size that matters," Tsume said with a sneer, before bursting into wild laughter at Shisui's flabbergasted expression.

Tenzo sighed and patted his shoulder, looking apologetic. "Welcome to team Yon, Shisui-san. Don't worry," he whispered, "you'll get used to Tsume-san… eventually."

"Bah! You're such prudes," she said. "You don't blink an eye in the face of death, but when it comes to women you all blush like little boys. Even you, Tenzo. Or rather, especially you," Tsume added, in a tone almost seductive. "If you join me in my bedroll sometime, I'll give you plenty of reasons to blush."

"T-tsume-san!" Tenzo stuttered. The red on his cheeks could not be blamed on firelight alone. He cleared his throat, but even so, his voice trembled. "Highly inappropriate..."

Shisui shot a look at Itachi, who shrugged and echoed Tenzo's words. "You'll get used to it," he said. There was nothing for them to do but laugh over the banter which continued in the background, unabated. Kuromaru alone seemed uninterested in the ruckus, preferring to watch his fish cook instead.

"Come here for an introductory lesson!"

"No, thank you!"

"Wait, I haven't given you any reasons to run yet!"

The two older members of their group settled down a little before the fish was finally done, after having chased each other around the camp for a bit. It had all been done in good humor, and Itachi enjoyed the familiarity of it. Tsume's antics had used to make him uncomfortable, once. Now it was just one more thing he appreciated about her. Like the camp fire, she could keep the darkness at bay.

After cleaning every morsel of pale meat from the fish bones, Itachi declared himself sated. He was the last to finish, and by that time, the others had settled into a comfortable silence. "I'll take the first watch," he said.

"I'm going to sleep, then," Tsume announced, marking her statement with a yawn. "Wake me up when it's my turn."

"Same here," Tenzo said. "Good night, everyone."

Shisui alone remained by the fire, with Itachi. For a long time, he was content to watch the shadows dance in the firelight, deep in thought. "Go to sleep, Itachi," he said, eventually. He had waited for their companions to fall asleep, not wanting to undermine Itachi in front of them. "I'll keep the first two watches."

"I appreciate it, but I don't think I can fall sleep anyway."

"Then you can keep me company until you do."

Itachi sighed in response to the all-too-familiar Uchiha obstinacy and leaned down on his bedroll to look up at the stars. His thoughts raced to Sasuke, only to be brought to a halt by the pain of remembering their last discussion. He was too tired to put up a fight against the sadness which swept over him like a tidal wave.

"I've been wondering," Shisui said, unknowingly providing him with much-needed distraction. "That crazy shadow _jutsu _I saw when you sparred with Akane-san… it has a rather large area of effect. It's almost impossible for at least one ally to not get trapped in it, along with the enemy."

Itachi picked up on the question behind Shisui's words. "Kakashi-san didn't tell you? There's a trick to it: you have to stay still. It will only trap other shadows in motion."

"I see," Shisui said. "So, whether the enemy figures it out or not, it's game over for them."

"As long as there's one of us left outside the _jutsu_ to strike, yes."

"That crazy _jutsu, _Wood Style, a peerless sense of smell, and your Sharingan... You four make up quite the team."

"Us five," Itachi corrected him. "You're now part of it, too."

Shisui smiled quietly to himself. He had been assigned to team Yon temporarily, yet Itachi still considered his team to be made up of five members. He was not willing to give up on the Nara woman, even while integrating him, as her replacement. "Our Sharingans, then," he said with a grin. "That Hyuuga and his partner won't stand a chance."

* * *

_Ox, rabbit, monkey_. "Chidori!"

Pain seared through Akane's arm as lightning crackled in her hand, chakra tamed into deadly shape, ready to cut, to kill. The boulder never stood a chance from the moment she picked her target. Dust, bits of rock, and blood flew into the air as she pierced through it, relentless. It left her breathless, and her entire arm numb up to the shoulder, but it was a high like no other.

_Ox, rabbit, monkey_.

White-hot and almost blinding, the pain shot up, renewed, as the _jutsu_ chirped to life. Akane spun around, aiming for the target behind, when something caught her wrist in an iron grip, breaking her focus. She looked up to meet a single, familiar eye.

"_Maa, maa… _I didn't teach you this _jutsu _to kill yourself overdoing it, you know." The Chidori died, yet Kakashi did not relinquish his grasp on Akane's wrist. The glare he got from her was slightly reminiscent of Sasuke's. _So that's why_, Kakashi thought as she yanked her hand from his grip.

"No offense, Kakashi-_sensei_, but this is no business of yours."

But Akane was no _genin_, and also past the excuse of hormonal moodiness due to teenage years. "You're absolutely right," he said, "and if you don't like it, you can take it up with your captain, when he comes back."

Shock and disbelief were plainly written on her face. "Itachi?"

Kakashi sighed. He was having a hard time recognizing the same woman who had been an ANBU trainee under him just four years past. This Akane was a far cry from the cool and collected Nara who had passed through her entrance exams with flying colors. "Yes, Itachi," he confirmed. That very morning, he had received an odd message from him, asking him to look after her in his absence. While it had confused him at first, he was beginning to see why he had gotten it in the first place.

"I don't know what happened to you, and it's not my place to ask," Kakashi continued, "but Akane…" He saw her bristle and cut her off before she had a chance to even open her mouth. "What is your position within the team?"

The question was abrupt enough to take her by surprise. "Medical-nin," she replied, nevertheless.

"What are the four rules that govern _iryou_-nin?"

At that, Akane's head went down. She was clever enough to realize she was losing the battle, and she began to recite the laws, albeit begrudgingly. "No medic ninja shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end. No medic ninja shall ever stand on the front lines. No medic ninja shall ever die until they are the last of their platoon…"

"And the last one?"

"Only those medic ninja who have mastered the Strength of a Hundred technique of the ninja art Creation Rebirth are permitted to discard the above-mentioned rules." Tsunade had never gotten to teach anyone that technique before she had left. She was currently the only one exempt from all the rules.

"I'll ask you again: what is your position within team Yon?"

Akane's look was only half-murderous now. The other half was subdued. "Medical-nin," she replied.

"And your choice between a life to take and a life to save?"

She bit her lip. Her gaze darkened once more, teetering on the verge of an unnamed chasm. Whatever the true reason she had been left behind, at the moment she was, indeed, not in the right place to make such a decision, Kakashi deemed. Itachi saw a great many things correctly, and this had been one of them.

"It's not a choice," Akane said, eventually. "Saving a life is my duty."

A moment too late. In a real-life combat situation, the life she had just decided to save would have been lost. More so, Kakashi had the unfortunate feeling she had not been entirely truthful. "Revenge is a blade with no hilt," he said. "It will cut you as deeply as the one you swing it at."

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

However, Kakashi was not one to be easily fooled. Even without the sharingan in his left eye, he could see many things himself. At the moment, he could see, almost as well as Itachi had, that Akane was staring into the abyss. He had not been paying enough attention before, though the signs had been there all along, looking back now. "Well, it's just something to keep in mind," he said. "Itachi has faith in you. I hope his faith is not misplaced."

Her forehead still tingled where Itachi had poked her that morning. Akane had wondered what that odd gesture had been all about, but could not make sense of it. At first, she had thought it to be some sort of encouragement, but she had come to realize there had been something entirely different in his eyes that moment. Something that still puzzled her.

"How am I supposed to sit around, doing nothing, while my team is out there, risking their lives?"

"Find a hobby," Kakashi said, in a lighter tone. "Like reading, for example. I can lend you an _Icha-Icha _book."

Akane made a face. "No, thank you."

"Well, if you want back in action, I'm afraid this," he said, pointing at her injured hand, "isn't the way to go about it. But I suppose… there would be no dishonor in leaving the force, instead." Akane would have looked less shocked if he had slapped her in the face. "The hospital could always use a talented _iryou-_nin."

"_Leave _the force_? _You're telling me to leave the force?_"_

"I'm telling you it's an option," he said levelly. "If you ever feel like you can't handle things anymore, there's no shame in stopping. Better that, than…" _Messing up_. He did not say it. He did not have to.

Kakashi expected rage to surface, unbridled. It had been evident in the trembling of her fists and the thinning of her lips to paleness until now, and increasingly harder for her to harness. Better for her to aim it at him with harsh words than at those boulders, with the Chidori. Then, it would not kill her. Then, he would consider Itachi's request fulfilled.

Instead, her trembling ceased. She stood up straighter and regarded him through guarded, grey eyes, as her face became like an ANBU mask in itself. "Thank you, Kakashi-_sensei,_" Akane said. Her words were like the rest of her now. Empty.

Itachi sure had his work cut out for him, Kakashi thought somewhat dejectedly.

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, such as it is. A big thanks to all of you, who have taken your time to leave a word so far! It means a lot, especially since this story is getting harder to write. I sometimes think I should have stayed in the box, but lo and behold, all I have on my mind these days are dark stories. My muse has me in shackles.**


	14. Snake in the Leaves

**Chapter 14 – Snake in the Leaves**

It was still early afternoon when he deigned to stop, and at a bar no less. Strange, as he had always been rather quaint, preferring tea shops to what he, ironically, dubbed shady establishments. Still, she was not one to complain about finally walking into a place where she could have a decent drink, for once. Perhaps even a decent meal, though those were hard to come by nowadays, especially with the allowance they had for personal expenses (damn that Taki-nin miser of a treasurer).

It was hard not to notice the stares coming their way, however. The moment they had walked in, every eye in the dimly lit room had turned to them. Most had quickly found other targets, but some lingered impudently as the two of them made their way to an adequately positioned table. Not too close, nor too far from the exit, although sufficiently removed from nearby patrons. Even so, it was difficult to ignore the obvious. More difficult by the moment.

"Someone didn't have too bright of an idea with these cloaks," Juri said under her breath, tapping against the table with one, violet nail. "They stand out like an eyesore, on top of being fucking cumbersome. I thought we weren't supposed to attract attention." She was resisting the urge to glare back at the curious stares pinned to her side, but even so, Suisen could feel his partner tense up, itching for a fight. She was a Bloody Mist ninja through and through, getting all worked up over the slightest chance of combat. Sometimes he wondered if the smell of blood turned her on.

Regardless, the Leader had paired him up with Juri to rein her in. At least for the time being. "We won't, unless you continue playing their game," he said.

"Killjoy," she said, aiming a glare at him, instead. "It's been a while since my _Tensenrin_ has tasted blood, and that's all your fault. You never let me have any fun."

"Your idea of fun would attract more attention than these cloaks."

"If I kill them all, there won't be anyone left to tell the tale." She grinned at the notion, displaying a white set of carefully filed teeth.

"The last time I let you kill someone, we had Konoha rats crawling up our backs within two days."

"Well, if we had killed _all _the rats that night, they wouldn't still be scurrying around, telling tales."

"You, kill an Uchiha?" he asked. "That boy played you for a fool." Suisen then chuckled, but the sound of it was all wrong, and it sent a shiver down Juri's spine, enough to cool her rising temper at his mockery. Two years, and she was still wary of him at times. Almost as much as she was attracted to him.

It was the predatory look in his eyes which either froze the blood in her veins or set her innards on fire. It was not _love_, the blithe concept of which she abhorred. Not even a drop of affection. No attachment whatsoever beyond pure carnal magnetism. On the occasions when he condescended to satisfy that particular base need, he never hurt her any more than she liked him to. Showing restraint when they were both at their most vulnerable was courtesy, nothing more. It was during the rest of the time that Juri had to tread carefully.

"I would have had him by the balls if you weren't in such a hurry to get to your prize," she said, deeming the slight safe enough at the moment. It only elicited a sneer from him.

"Next time," Suisen said, though he now seemed miles away, no doubt reveling in his memories of that time, "I might let you have him."

* * *

Three days in and so far, they had come out empty handed from every village they had passed through. Nobody had seen the strange cloaks, nor heard of anything unusual happen in the local area of late. By now, team Yon was well acquainted with the taste of disappointment. The first time had been easier, as they had followed a trail of persons either missing or dead, and in familiar territory. The Country of Tea was nothing like the south of the Land of Fire.

With no military power of its own, the country relied heavily on trade and tourism. It was not unusual for the locals to prefer protecting their own interests in lieu of helping foreign _shinobi, _whose business often meant impending trouble for civilians, wherever they went. Hospitality did not extend beyond courtesy, and Itachi was beginning to think they would have to return to Konoha with nothing.

"At least the weather's nice," Tsume said as they stepped outside an inn, where yet another owner had shaken his head at their questions. "This almost feels like a vacation."

Almost, but not quite, Itachi thought bitterly. "We're not getting information by standing in the middle of the road," he said. "Let's get going." No one quirked a brow at his crankiness, and he was grateful for it. It had not slipped their notice that he was not getting enough sleep, not with the four of them sharing a room for the past two nights, but they had mercifully spared him the questions. Not even Shisui had dared bring the matter up, given that they were never alone.

The day was dragging away, yet another one lost, as they themselves dragged their tired feet along the dusty country road. Itachi clung to the belief that the Hokage had most definitely not sent them on a wild goose chase. The sighting report had come from a Konoha spy in the Country of Tea, yet it was, by now, days old, and the spy had been unable to provide them with more information than he had already included in it. All spies had been warned to avoid approaching the cloaked _shinobi_ in question, or take any action beyond sending word to Konoha at once. Unfortunately, that only made things harder for them.

"I see a bar sign," Tenzo said, shielding his eyes from the sun with one hand. His captain looked up, squinting, and spotted it too. "We could try there, next."

Itachi nodded in quiet approval. Inns, bars, the ubiquitous tea shops… they had left no stone unturned, which only served to make their failure more irksome. Surely the ground had not swallowed them. Surely someone, somewhere, had seen something. Again, if they had, they were not talking. Either way, Itachi was left with more questions and frustration than he would have liked piled up on top of his insomnia.

"We could stop for a round of drinks," Tsume suggested. "Nothing like a swig of _sake_ to lift the spirits."

"No drinking on the job," Itachi said, before making a small concession. "You can have some when we stop for the night."

Tsume was not one to know when to quit. "Really, captain, just because you're the only one underage… but yes, fine, I get your point," she said when he turned his unamused gaze to her. "In and out it is. No refreshments needed whatsoever," she muttered.

Yet as the four of them stepped inside the establishment, all thoughts of refreshments left Tsume's mind entirely. Her nostrils flared as she drew in rapid, shallow breaths, trying to keep the air in contact with her olfactive receptors for as long as possible. Her eyes darted left and right, but the place was almost deserted, and in any case, the scent was fainter than she would have liked. Almost like a ghostly tap on the wrist, she could not even be certain it had been there to begin with. But the more she sniffed, the more intrigued she became. _There's definitely something here_, she decided after a few moments.

The moment Tsume had stopped, standing so transfixed in the middle of the bar, Itachi had been onto her. He had raised a hand to stop Tenzo and Shisui, and to ensure they realized what she was doing, so as to not inadvertently distract her attention. Ignoring the strange looks their group received from the few patrons and the staff, Itachi waited for their tracker to do her job, a knot wound tightly in this throat. For three, almost four days now, they had been stumbling around in the dark. He was almost praying she would have news for them.

"I definitely smell something familiar here," Tsume said, at long last. Then she shook her head. "But it's rather faint and I'm not even sure it's what I smelled before the mist. My memories of that night are a bit fuzzy."

Itachi frowned. Kuromaru might have been of help, but the bar did not allow animals inside, so the _ninken_ had had to remain out front. Somehow, the expressions on the staff's faces did not give the impression that they would allow him in, if he asked nicely. He was considering the right approach for this whole situation, when he noticed Shisui stepping away from their group, towards a mousy-haired young woman holding an empty tray.

"Hello there," his friend said with the most charming smile he had ever seen him put on. "I was wondering if you would be so kind as to give us some directions. I think we're a bit lost."

The woman's positive reaction to Shisui's approach was almost instant, and impossible to miss. Her cheeks caught on a peachy hue and she responded to his genial smile in kind as she shifted her weight from one leg to the other, both flustered and flattered. Itachi could not help but stare, lips slightly parted in surprise. He had never seen Shisui interact with a woman like this. So openly, brazenly… easily charming.

"Of course!" the woman said, clutching at the metal tray as if its weight could prevent her from floating up through the ceiling, into the open sky. "How may I help you?"

"Well, we were traveling in a larger group before we split up, two days ago, but I'm afraid we've been unable to catch up with our friends. Do you happen to know if they passed through here? They were wearing black cloaks with red clouds."

The woman seemed taken aback. Itachi caught her eyes fleeting in the same direction Tsume had been sniffing a few minutes before. "Ah, those fellows?" she asked, making them all stand on edge in anticipation. "_Maa, _who would have thought you were traveling with them?"

"Why so surprised, Suzumi-chan?" Shisui asked, imperceptibly glancing towards her nametag without missing a beat.

If anything, she blushed even more at the sound of her own name rolling off his tongue. _Kotoamatsukami? _Itachi wondered. But no, Shisui's eyes were dark, without any hint of red, not to mention the Mangekyou's pinwheel. He was truly using nothing but his charisma to get through to her. Watching him, it crossed his mind that Shisui could have had any woman in Konoha he wanted by now, yet he had never shown any interest, however remote, in pursuing such things.

"Well, it's just that they both seemed… older than you," Suzumi decided, although it was likely she was trying to be polite. This was not the most reliable way to get information out of someone, Itachi mused, but Shisui did not seem in the least bit put off.

"That's because they're our _sensei_," he said, his hand brushing ever-so-casually against his _hitai-ate_. "We're on a field trip, you see."

Itachi wanted to smack himself at the obvious lie that came out of Shisui's mouth, but the girl seemed entirely oblivious. "Ah, is that so? How do you like our country so far, uhm…"

"Shisui," he filled in quickly (and using his real name, Itachi noted disapprovingly), pulling off that same award-winning smile that seemed to have become his new trump card. "I think the countryside is quite beautiful at this time of the year," he went on.

For some reason, maybe the way he looked into her eyes as he uttered the word 'beautiful', Suzumi seemed quite breathless all of the sudden. "Well, Shisui-san, I'm afraid your _sensei _didn't stay long, and they kept to themselves mostly. But I know which way they went," she said, sounding very pleased with herself.

"Mm, and which way would that be?" he asked, now in an almost seductive purr.

"South, towards Yamagata! They were here only yesterday, I'm sure if you hurry you'll catch up with them soon."

In the split second before Shisui graciously thanked Suzumi for her help, the rest of team Yon almost held their breaths, like they expected something entirely inappropriate to start unfolding before their very eyes at any moment. The bartender, who had said not one word until then, had turned red to the tip of his ears, more so than Suzumi herself, who merely blushed prettily and waved as Shisui performed an exemplary bow of one most indebted, and took his leave.

It was not until he stepped outside that Itachi realized how crisp and clear the air felt, as opposed to the stifling atmosphere inside. He drew in a long, shaky breath, and was surprised to see he was not the only one. Tsume was holding up a handkerchief to her nose, red stains blooming on it like petals. Before he could ask her if she was alright, she turned to Shisui, who strode out of the bar like nothing had happened.

"I take back what I said about your fireballs, kid," Tsume said in a nasal voice, overcome by the pheromones, one-sided as they had been.

"That's quite alright, Tsume-san, you don't have to," Shisui said, only now getting slightly flustered himself at the strangeness in her gaze. Just how much could that nose of hers smell? While he could blame his utter lack of interest in the girl on their desperate need for information, he would be unable to deny his interest in another member of team Yon if she ever picked up on that. _If she hasn't, already,_ he thought with a sinking feeling in his stomach. In any case, he would have to be more careful with Itachi around her. After all, she was known as the woman who could sniff out a lie.

"We should get going," Itachi said, but his gaze lingered on Tsume for confirmation. She dabbed the handkerchief at her nose again, and waved her hand.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said. "Let's go."

They only lingered for less than half an hour in the village to replenish their food supplies before setting out at full speed. Having a direction, at long last, gave them all a renewed sense of purpose that kept them going well into the night. It was well past midnight when Itachi motioned for them to leave the road and enter the woods.

"We'll rest for a few hours," he said, and it was clear from his tone that there would be no campfire burning tonight and no soft bedrolls being laid out.

"I'll take the first watch," Tsume offered.

"No, we need you fresh at first light," Itachi said. "Shisui?"

"Yes, captain," the older Uchiha confirmed, settling himself down on a branch he deemed sturdy enough to hold his weight and more. When a Konoha-nin did not camp on the ground, they did even better up in the canopy, even though they sacrificed comfort for the safety of concealment. At least with a knot poking at his spine, he would not find it difficult to stay awake.

The others had settled down themselves, huddled in their cloaks and using their backpacks for added comfort. Tenzo was high up, but had not used his _Mokuton_ to increase his comfort, still following the indication to preserve his chakra. Tsume was using her backpack as a pillow and Kuromaru was half-sprawled over her. Shisui's gaze lingered the most on Itachi, who had curled up on his branch, two trees away, with one leg dangling off negligently. His eyes were closed, but he was most definitely not asleep, judging by his chakra pattern, which rippled like a flag at the mercy of high winds. He was agitated, almost as much as he was exhausted. Shisui would have liked nothing more than to comfort him now. Unfortunately, he could not.

* * *

_Thud._

Shisui's eyes snapped open, the hilt of a kunai already in his hand. In the grey light of dawn, he first saw Tsume perched on the branch across, one arm extended towards him and a disgusted look on her face. Now he was both groggy and confused. He could have sworn a kunai had just whizzed past his head to embed itself in the trunk behind him. "Tsume-san, I didn't think you disliked me that much," he said, following her gaze to somewhere above him. She had, indeed, thrown a kunai, but not at him. A white snake was dangling over his head from the branch above, its head now firmly pinned to the trunk.

"I hate snakes," Tsume said.

Shisui realized he was the last one to wake up, as Tenzo and Itachi were already on their feet. He rubbed his eyes and stretched as best he could, before collecting his things and jumping down from the tree.

"Sorry for the rude awakening," the _kunoichi_ said to Shisui as she landed in the grass, beside him. "I thought you'd sensed it."

Shisui smiled, running a hand through his tousled hair. "I guess I was busy dreaming of Suzumi-chan."

"Mhm," she replied, with a smirk that make him break into a cold sweat. "Suzumi-chan." At his timid reaction, Tsume grinned and patted his back once, with enough force to make him double over. "Relax, kid," she said, winking, before lowering her voice to a whisper: "Your secret is safe with me."

_Well… shit,_ he thought. Their quiet exchange came to an abrupt halt as Itachi and Tenzo joined them on the forest floor.

Itachi quirked a brow at seeing Shisui so uncharacteristically flustered, but said nothing of it. Most likely, Tsume had entertained him with another one of her lewd jokes. She seemed to have an endless supply of those, even this early in the morning. After he gave the signal, team Yon took off once more. At this rate, today was the day they would catch up with their targets. "Tsume and Kuromaru, take the lead," he said. "Let me know when you have their scent. Remember, everyone, we are not to engage the enemy. If they somehow engage us, retreat if you can. We won't be taking any chances this time."

"Understood, captain," his three companions responded in unison.

* * *

The _juuken_ strike hit the target squarely in his chest, sending him flying backwards a few feet, into a tree, which almost broke from the impact. His mouth remained open in a silent scream as his body slid down the trunk, but not even a breath came out of the Grass shinobi – only a trickle of blood, rolling down to his chin. Suisen pulled back his arm. Once his Byakugan confirmed the permanent nature of the stop in the _shinobi's _chakra flow, the veins bulging towards his eyes sank under the skin.

"And you say I overdo it," he heard Juri scoff behind him. True, he may have pushed in more than enough chakra to kill, tearing up his organs to ribbons in the process, but the man had asked for it the first time he had tried sneaking away with his concealment _jutsu_. His subsequent attempts had been nothing less than an insult to his bloodline limit.

"I didn't ask for your input," Suisen told her, kneeling by the body to rummage through his clothes. They had been trailing the bastard all the way from Kusagakure for a scroll he carried, and which they had received orders to retrieve for an interested party. Once he found it, he gave his partner an order. "Dispose of the body."

Juri wrinkled her nose in distaste at his tone, but said nothing as she went through the hand seals. _Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_ A spider, roughly the size of a horse, appeared from the smoke of her summoning jutsu. Suisen stepped back, watching as the creature moved soundlessly towards the dead ninja on its eight hairy legs. It then hoisted itself up in a downward position using a string of silk, and proceeded to eat the body, starting with the head. He did not know what was more disgusting: the horrible crunch of the human skull as it disappeared into its mouth, or the clicking of the spider's pincers as they worked to chew on it.

* * *

"I have that scent, captain," Tsume announced. "Judging by it, our target should be less than a mile ahead. Mm, there's definitely two scents… but I don't recognize one of them. Kuromaru?"

The _ninken _shook his head. "I don't recognize it either. Moreover, I'm pretty certain the familiar one isn't from that night. I just can't seem to remember where I've sensed it before."

That gave Itachi pause. He did not call for a halt just yet, but his thoughts were now racing through his head almost as fast as he was running. If the ones they had been tracking were not Suisen and Juri, they either had the wrong people or there were more teams like them out there. The latter thought's implications sent a shudder down his spine.

"We have to get as close as we can without losing our cover," he said.

"I have an idea," Shisui said, and quickly summoned a red-eyed crow. Itachi nodded in approval, and the bird took flight. He watched it until it became no more than a dark dot against the cloudless sky.

"We're a third of a mile apart now," Tsume said after a little while.

"Any luck, Shisui?"

The older Uchiha frowned. "There's definitely two people wearing those cloaks ahead of us," he said, "but my summon just got shot down. I barely got a glimpse of them."

"They sensed it?" Itachi could not hold his surprise. He did not get the chance to issue a change of orders before Tsume raised the alarm, a split second later.

"Captain, incoming, fast!"

The four of them jumped back just as two cloaked figures landed in the middle of the road, facing them. A jingle of bells sounded in the suddenly still air as the dust settled around them. Itachi's sharingan had activated on reflex alone, and he barely registered any pain this time. Whether from Akane's healing, or the shock of looking up into a familiar pair of snakelike, golden eyes, he could not say.

"Orochimaru," Tsume uttered, her voice shaking in disbelief as she stared at the taller of the two _shinobi_ standing before them. His strange partner barely reached the _sannin's_ midriff, but he was much bulkier. They were both wearing the same black cloak with red clouds Itachi had seen on Juri.

"Long time, Tsume Inuzuka-san," Orochimaru said. "And what have we here?" he drawled as his eyes swept past Tenzo, from Shisui to Itachi, and back again. "Uchihas. Wonderful." The _sannin _marked his last word with a lick of his lips, his gaze now fully settled on Shisui.

"We don't have time for this, Orochimaru," his partner said in a deep, raspy voice. Kuromaru's ears perked up, intrigued. To him, the sound of it was almost… mechanical somehow. "Dispose of them and let's go."

"If you like, go on ahead. I'll join you as soon as I'm finished here," he said, holding out his arms. No sooner had he finished his sentence than his extended members turned into large, white snakes which swiftly curled around Shisui and Itachi, constricting to the point of pain.

"This had better not take too long," the man beside him said after a moment of thought, as a metallic, scorpion-like tail rose in the air behind him.

Orochimaru sneered. It seemed his partner had decided to stay, after all.


	15. Unbroken

**Chapter 15 – Unbroken**

Orochimaru's predatory eyes widened at the sight of the two Uchihas in his grasp, and he licked his lips in anticipation. To think he would have such fortune, that they had come to him, _two_ of them at the same time. And those eyes. _Subarashii_, he thought, taking in the intensity of those crimson gazes set upon him, unblinking, unyielding.

They had been mere children when he had left Konoha, but he remembered them, of course. Even then, they were hailed as prodigies, geniuses, truly the products of generations of careful breeding within the Uchiha clan. Now here they were, like ripe fruit, ready to be plucked and savored. _Shisui_, he thought, gazing longingly at the older of the two boys. He would take this one first. Itachi he would keep as a spare, for when Shisui's body would inevitably begin to fail him. Through them, he would gain access to the most coveted power, that extraordinary _dojutsu _that was their bloodline limit: the Sharingan.

He chuckled darkly, giddy at the very thought, and his grip on the boys tightened ever so slightly, as if to make absolutely certain they would not slip from his grasp. They made not a single move, and no emotion surfaced on their faces… except, perhaps, defiance. Truly extraordinary creatures. And to think soon, he would have them both.

Tsume gasped, unable to believe her eyes. In less time than it took to snap one's fingers, the two strongest _shinobi_ on their team had been immobilized by the enemy. Even worse, they were up against a Konoha _Sannin_ and his partner, whom they knew nothing about. She gritted her teeth and her foot scuffed the ground as she grew tense, vacillating. They had their orders, but _still!_

It was Tenzo who acted before Tsume could make up her mind. As long as the two of them kept their distance, they could still try to help their comrades. His _Mokuton_ would come in handy for that, more so than Tsume's close-range techniques. Whatever the consequences, he had to at least try to shield Itachi and Shisui from the enemy. He was about to form the final seal of an extraction _jutsu_ when a cool hand settled on his wrist, breaking his focus.

"Please stand back, both of you," Shisui said. Two heads turned almost at once, mouths opened in surprise, eyes darting back and forth from him, to the other Shisui: the one still trapped in Orochimaru's grip. Tenzo could not believe his eyes. The man was in two places at the same time. He had not sensed him. How long had he been standing there for? Was this the Body Flicker _jutsu_ Shisui was renowned for?

No sooner had he finished formulating that second question in his mind than a multitude of what appeared to be Shisui's clones flickered left and right and all the way between them and the enemy, brandishing their short blade.

Orochimaru sneered at the sight. That speed. That prowess. That body. Soon to be his. The hold he had on the younger Uchiha tightened even more, since it had become clear the other one in his grasp was a fake. The white snake opened its mouth, angling its head to swallow the remaining prize, only for Orochimaru to realize his grip was suddenly slackening as Itachi turned into a dozen crows which dispersed. The smile faded from the _Sannin's_ lips. He could almost feel Sasori's patience ebbing away. He did not have much time for games.

Itachi appeared beside his cousin, able to tell the real Shisui from his after-images by the grace of his Sharingan and them having been training together for years. "Distraction," Shisui requested calmly, not taking his eyes off the enemy for a single moment. Itachi intuited what Shisui was about to do, and while he disapproved, he was aware they could not give their enemy a single moment to react. He sped through the seals. _Sanzengarasu no Jutsu!_

A murder of crows descended upon the two _shinobi_ in black cloaks, cawing loudly and obscuring their field of vision. Orochimaru gritted his teeth, displeased with how things were progressing. He narrowed his eyes, trying to pinpoint the location of his prey through the haphazard flapping of black wings. All he saw was the red glare of a strange, pinwheel Sharingan.

Sasori's tail cut viciously through the air, swatting at the crows, which vanished in clouds of smoke with loud pops. Such annoying combat methods. It was clear the Konoha brats were scrambling for a retreat, but what irritated him even more was how Orochimaru was suddenly standing very still beside him instead of dealing with this unsightly business in a timely manner.

"_Oi_, Orochimaru," he growled. "This is the last time I'm letting you put your personal interests above ours. Let's finish this." The crows scattered. Sasori pinned the last of them to the ground with the sharp tip of his tail. His eyes once again shot towards his partner. "Orochimaru!"

"The Akatsuki won't crumble over something as trivial as this, Sasori," the _Sannin_ said.

Blood pooled in Shisui's left eye and trickled down his cheek. The pain registered like a stab, sharp and unyielding, yet he did not flinch as the _Kotoamatsukami_ began to untangle Orochimaru's wicked tongue.

Sasori bristled, his tail retracting, only to poise itself again, the tip discreetly aimed at Orochimaru's throat. "Be quiet," he said. "We have an audience."

"Being an Akatsuki member has only been hindering my progress," his partner continued, unfazed. "We've been running around from country to country, mission after mission, _fundraising_," he spat with no little amount of distaste, "and for what? I'm not wasting your time, Sasori. This pathetic excuse for a criminal organization is wasting mine."

"I said be quiet!" Sasori's tail struck at Orochimaru without a moment's notice, but the _Sannin_ slithered aside effortlessly, dodging the blow, and he laughed: a guttural, sinister sound coming from the depths of his throat in great, rumbling waves.

The Konoha _shinobi_ watched the exchange, drinking in every one of Orochimaru's words. The information they had been looking for was now trickling out of his mouth, word by word. Shisui and Itachi alone knew how this had come to pass, but it did not matter, at the moment. They would not be returning to Konoha empty handed after all.

"It'll be years before you have any chance at furthering your goals," Orochimaru continued, not in the least vexed by Sasori's continued attempts to silence him. "Years before you gather all the tailed beasts."

"Traitor!" Sasori growled, and the side of his tail finally made contact with Orochimaru's body, hurling him into a nearby oak tree. He then opened his mouth and launched a barrage of senbon at his now _former_ partner.

The subtle _genjutsu's_ effect was wearing off. Shisui looked at Itachi, who was quick to grasp the meaning behind his gaze. Ideally, they would have apprehended Orochimaru and dragged his scaly behind back to Konoha for further interrogation and delivery of justice, but that was not an option. If they were to retreat, as per the Hokage's instructions, now was the time. Itachi signaled for them all to back away.

From the onslaught of seemingly never-ending _senbon _launched by Sasori, Orochimaru's head suddenly sprung out and sped through the air towards the Konoha _shinobi, _perched on an abnormally elongated neck. Maddened eyes fell upon the first Uchiha in his path: Itachi. He would suffice. His mouth opened wide, fangs ready to sink into that precious flesh on the side of his neck, to leave his mark there in preparation for his final goal. But then his eyes met the red glare of Itachi's sharingan and his body froze, midair. _A paralysis genjutsu_, he thought, unnerved.

Itachi's eyes widened in surprise as the _Sannin's_ mouth opened wider and wider, far beyond human capability. The tip of a head poked from within the darkness of that throat and under their disgusted gazes, Orochimaru crawled out of himself and fell on the ground with a sickening splotching sound, his body still covered in fluid. His previous form withered to a husk, like a shed snake skin, and slumped into the dust behind him.

Sasori turned his attention to the new Orochimaru as he stood up slowly, halfway between him and the Konoha brats. His tail swished and angled itself to deliver a strike into the _Sannin's_ exposed back. Orochimaru, however, melted into the shape of a small, white snake and quickly slithered out of the way to vanish in the grass by the side of the road. He had deemed his chances too slim, surrounded by enemies from both sides, and fled. The coward. The _traitor_.

Sasori pulled back his tail. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction with Orochimaru, the Konoha scum had only just fled, as well, leaving him alone in the middle of the dusty road. What had possessed Orochimaru to turn on the Akatsuki all of the sudden, he wondered. Genjutsu? He himself had not been under the influence of one in decades, and he could barely remember what it felt like. But surely a _shinobi_ of Orochimaru's caliber could have seen through it, dispelled it. In any case, it did not matter now. What mattered was that Konoha would soon learn about them, and that Orochimaru was responsible for it. He needed to inform the Leader.

* * *

None of them breathed a word as they ran, dashing into the cover of the forest and taking to the upper branches to settle into their homebound pace. Right now, the most important thing was to put as much distance between them and the enemy as possible. The second most important thing was to get the information Shisui had painstakingly obtained from Orochimaru to Konoha. Akatsuki. Criminal organization. Fundraising. Collecting the _bijuu_. The more Itachi turned the newly acquired notions in his head, the more he had the feeling they had stumbled over a hornet's nest.

Shisui wiped the blood from his cheek with the back of his hand, maintaining his Sharingan even as the Mangekyou's dark pinwheel faded. Using _Kotoamatsukami _on Orochimaru had been taxing, and he considered himself fortunate he had only needed to cast it once. The left half of his head throbbed as it was.

They travelled until sundown, straining themselves to the limit, even though Tsume had confirmed hours before that they were not being pursued. Itachi wanted nothing more than to get his team back home. The sooner he informed the Hokage of their findings, the sooner Konoha could take action against the Akatsuki, even if that action meant bolstering their defenses and being more cautious, for the time being. After all, Konoha had the _Kyuubi_.

"Set up traps around the perimeter," he said to Tsume and Tenzo. "I don't want us to take any chances." With the risk of seeming paranoid, he needed to be certain of their own safety for the night.

He noticed Shisui sitting on a log, uncharacteristically still and quiet. _Some friend I am,_ Itachi thought with a twinge of regret. He had not spoken to Shisui after the battle, had not considered the strain on him as he had pressed on, forgetting that his cousin had done most of the work against the two Akatsuki. He had even used his Mangekyou to ensure they completed their mission, knowing it would only bring him one step closer to the darkness. The thought of Shisui losing his sight still made Itachi shudder.

"Are you alright?"

Shisui looked up and easily forced a smile on his lips. His eyes were their usual black now, and in the dying light, without the Sharingan, Itachi's face did not come well into focus, but he thought he could make out concern on it. "I'm alright, don't worry," he said.

Itachi sat beside him on the log, gazing at him curiously. Shisui found his heart rate picking up under the scrutiny and resisted the urge to fidget, look away, or in any way hint as to exactly how that gaze made him feel. Then Itachi pulled out a clean handkerchief from a pocket and poured water on it. The next thing Shisui felt was the wet fabric pressed against his left cheek as Itachi dabbed gently at some of the blood he had missed and which had long since dried on his skin. "Thank you," he said.

Itachi smiled. Shisui would have liked nothing more than to lean into that hand, into that soft touch. He almost bit his lip in frustration, but checked himself at the last moment and gritted his teeth instead. It used to be easier before, when they did not spend as much time together. When they were not on the same team. When they did not spend days on end in such proximity. Now, every one of these days felt like walking through the desert, having a bottle of water, yet refusing to drink. His determination was stretched thinner by the moment. Especially moments like this one.

"Itachi."

"Hm?" Itachi cooed, pulling back his hand now that he was satisfied with the work he had done, cleaning up the traces of blood.

"If something ever happens to me, burn my body."

Itachi blinked, momentarily confused, unable to wrap his mind around the words which had suddenly come out of Shisui's mouth. "What?" he asked, dumbfounded. He wanted to think he had misheard. "What are you talking about?"

Shisui's gaze darkened. "A _shinobi's_ body is a treasure trove of secrets. Mine is no exception, especially with this Sharingan of mine. I will not risk the _Kotoamatsukami_ falling into the wrong hands."

"Is this about Orochimaru?" Itachi asked. He remembered how those golden eyes had looked at him, the wanton _hunger_ in them. Left to his own devices, Orochimaru would have consumed the two of them body and soul, no doubt, in order to obtain their coveted _kekkei genkai_. However, he had picked the wrong Uchihas.

"If only he were the only one out there who fancied himself a new pair of eyes. Sharingan, Byakugan… it makes no difference. They all want what they can't have, what they are unworthy to bear, oblivious to the sheer weight of it. _We_ are everything they cannot be. They will always hunt our kind."

This was not Shisui showing pride, Itachi realized. This was him being bitter, bending under the burden of his power. If only more of their clansmen were aware of the responsibility that came with bearing the Sharingan.

He wanted to tell Shisui that it would not get to that. That someone like him could never fall, never falter, never fail. The corner of Itachi's lip twitched as he remembered Sasuke had once thought the same of him. Perhaps he still did, though his little brother's recent show of defiance suggested that illusion had been shattered to dust. Shisui was only human. Same as him.

Itachi held out his first two fingers. Shisui curled his own fingers around them, forming the seal of reconciliation between them. A symbol of their undying friendship throughout the years. Something the two of them cherished beyond any words that could pass between them. "I promise," Itachi said, nevertheless. It felt like the hardest promise he had ever made, but it brought that warm light back into Shisui's eyes and that was enough for him.

* * *

Hiruzen listened with a sinking heart. By the time Itachi finished giving his verbal report, the air in the room seemed to have grown colder and… heavier, somehow. Or was this his strength, ebbing away as he shouldered the increasing weight of his Hokage robes?

Orochimaru. Who would have thought? His moment of weakness, of pity, the mercy that had stayed his hand when he had discovered the evils of his former student was now coming back to haunt him tenfold. Enma had been right. _I should have killed him then,_ he thought.

"This is grave news," he said, leaning his forehead lightly against intertwined hands. "Grave news, indeed."

An organization of dangerous missing-nin, amassing money and planning to move on to capturing the _bijuu _in the near future… it was too much, too sinister for him to fathom. He did not even dare to think of what this Akatsuki planned to do with the beasts.

Naruto was too young, untrained and undisciplined. He would make for an easy target, in spite of the beast sealed within him being the most powerful of them all. If all the members of this organization were as dangerous as the ones Itachi's team had faced, other _jinchuuriki_ would no doubt be subdued, as well. And who knew how many _nuke-nin_ the Akatsuki had employed for this common purpose? Moreover, Orochimaru had said years, but who could tell for certain how much time they had left before they started collecting tailed-beasts?

For the second time in the past few weeks, it crossed Hiruzen's mind that he should appoint a successor. Someone to carry his will of fire into the future, to take over his burden should he break under its weight or die. His eyes fell upon the young Uchiha again. It was time he wrote to Jiraya and Tsunade. He had plenty to tell them.

"I will take these matters into consideration," he told Itachi. "I expect a written report on this whole matter, but otherwise, you are dismissed until the next summons."

Which Itachi took to mean they would not be patrolling the streets anymore. Good. He performed a bow and vanished in a puff of smoke, relocating himself to the rooftop with a transportation _jutsu_. The rest of his team were probably at home already. He was hesitant to return to his own, however. Not just yet, anyway. There were things he could not hope to run away from and this was one of them, but he could still convince himself he had reasons to delay his return.

He swung by the ANBU headquarters first, for a shower and a change of clothes. He always kept spares in his locker for times like this. On his way to his destination, he changed his route slightly to ensure the third training ground was still there. There were telltale signs of a little war having been waged against the boulders there, but other than that, it seemed still serviceable. It was also deserted, much to his relief.

The hour was getting late, so Itachi launched himself onto the rooftops, crossing through the village with all the haste he could manage, after having recently returned from their lengthy mission. The wind whispered through his hair in a gentle caress, and blew a cool kiss against his heated forehead. Konoha smelled of summer and starry nights. Of safety. Of home.

The lights were on, he noticed as he landed on the roof across the street from Akane's house. He was at her door and knocking in two jumps. Knowing how he had left her that morning, he could not have gone home without first dropping by to set her mind at ease. He had expected her face to light up with relief at the sight of him, and it did. But only for a moment.

"You look dreadful," she said, as he walked inside and shut the door behind him.

Itachi only noticed that she did not, conversely. The last time he had seen her, the dark circles under her eyes had looked like bruises against her pale skin. Although they were not entirely gone, they had most definitely faded. His vision doubled as he took that in, and he blinked to clear it.

"Is everyone alright?" Akane asked.

Itachi nodded. "It wasn't them," was all he managed to say.

She accepted this meager response, her critical, clinical eye making quick work of his state. "Are you hungry?" she asked. "Would you like some tea?"

"Tea would be nice," he said, ambling towards the kitchen to keep her company. There was something different about her, Itachi realized as he watched her set water to boil and prepare cups. Beyond the healthier glow on her face, it showed in the way she moved, like she had somehow shed some of the weight from her shoulders. Her steps had a soft spring of confidence to them, instead of chains of misery. "How have you been?" he asked.

"Funny you should ask, considering you set Kakashi-sensei on me," she said, yet her tone held amusement instead of reproach, and it only served to further confuse him. He was wary as she handled the whistling kettle, thinking death by boiling water would not be a pleasant way to go if she was hiding wrath behind this lighthearted demeanor. But Akane only poured it in the cups and let the tea infuse before joining him at the table.

Itachi sighed. Perhaps, in retrospective, it had not been the most subtle or considerate move on his part to 'set Kakashi on her'. He breathed in, readying himself. "I'm-"

"No, you're not sorry," she cut him off. Then, her expression softened. "But to be completely honest, neither am I. I'm grateful, really."

He would have been less shocked if she _had_ dumped that boiling water on his head.

"Kakashi came. Kakashi barked. I barked back," she admitted, though she did not look in the least bit guilty about talking back to a former superior. "But at the end of the day, I realized my recently acquired self-destructive tendencies would get me nowhere. I still need to get _somewhere_, so… I signed myself up for rehabilitation."

Itachi was speechless. The night he had offered her an alternative to rehabilitation because he had not wanted to force her into it seemed so distant now. But her warmth against him, the cherry-flavored smoke wafting in the air… did not. He propped his head with one hand, feeling like he could hardly hold it straight anymore. These visits would now serve no purpose. The distance he had crossed, he feared would lengthen again. He would be left to hang midway, uncertain whether to step forwards or backwards. Until she beckoned. He would go to her then. Perhaps.

Akane sipped her tea quietly. Her gaze was set on Itachi, who had inadvertently fallen asleep at her kitchen table, one arm tucked under his head for comfort. He had not said a word at her news, but for a moment she thought he had looked… almost sad. For a long time, she sat there and wondered. What could have been. _What could be, _she corrected herself. Though the shadows were still around her, she could make them dance.

Itachi's tea grew cold, untouched. Her cup had been empty for a while now. Judging by the flow of his chakra and his heart rate, he was in the deepest stage of sleep, and not likely to wake up. She had waited for this, not having the heart to rouse him. She would still have to be careful, but it would make it easier, so she stood up. Even in his state of exhaustion, there was no telling how long this particularly helpful phase of sleep would last.

_Kagemane no Jutsu._

Itachi's body obeyed and stood up as Akane's hands locked into the rat hand seal, trapping his shadow. For all intents and purposes, he may as well have been sleepwalking instead. He would have been none the wiser. She inched towards the bedroom one step at a time. There was light enough reaching inside the room from the hallway for the _jutsu_ to work. She adjusted the shadow's length as they walked through the doorway and to opposite sides of the bed, then lay down in a comfortable position for him to do the same, before finally breaking the _jutsu_. _Kagemane no Jutsu_ – success, she thought.

Who else could boast about having pulled off something like this with a sleeping Uchiha? A smirk tugged at the corner of her lips as she entertained that particular thought. Akane was moving to get up and move to the couch in the living room, when his hand reached out and caught hers, ever so gently. It startled her, nevertheless, and she was beyond surprised to see that Itachi's eyes were half open, that same expression on his face as before. For a moment, she did not know how to react. The shadows in her heart writhed. It hurt.

"Please, don't go," he said, almost inaudibly. At first, she thought she had imagined it. But then his hand, enclosed around hers, gave the gentlest of squeezes. Akane closed her eyes.

_Dance,_ she told she shadows.

**I hope the battle scene was not confusing. 3rd POV omniscient has its perks, but also downsides in time-compressed, action-packed scenes. One learns that the hard way. Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed!**


	16. October

**Chapter 16 – October**

Two changes of clothes, neatly folded and tucked in the backpack. Comb. Toothbrush, toothpaste. He had done this a thousand times, and his hands moved almost mechanically, his mind whirring in the background. Yet something was most definitely amiss this time around, and it bothered him, however much he tried to convince himself otherwise.

Itachi's eyes went to the rather impressive arsenal of recently sharpened kunai arrayed on his bed, along with the pouch he usually strapped to his right leg. He hesitated, brows furrowing, and his hand hovered uncertainly towards the pouch. Maybe bringing a few weapons along would not hurt. A _shinobi _could never have enough weapons on them, whatever the situation. Besides, he would feel rather awkward without any, he argued inwardly. Eventually, he grabbed five kunai and a dozen shuriken, but shoved the pouch in the backpack instead of securing it to his leg.

_A good compromise,_ he thought with some satisfaction as he hoisted the backpack onto one shoulder. His eyes swept over his room once more, both to ensure he had not forgotten anything and that everything was neat, the way he liked it. Coming back to a tidy room was always nice. He shut the door and padded down the hall, poking his head into the kitchen, where he could hear the water running.

Mikoto's head snapped towards him even before he had even taken a single step into the room, courtesy of her still-refined _jounin_ instincts. Her eyes immediately fell on the backpack he was carrying and one of her brows shot up.

"I'm leaving for a couple of days," he told her.

She made a small, disconcerting sound of motherly anguish before abandoning the dishes. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have prepared a _bento_ for you, and-"

Itachi smiled apologetically as he barred her way to the fridge before she had a chance to start packing food for him. "It's not a mission," he said. "I'm going on a small vacation with some friends."

Mikoto halted, her eyes widening in surprise. Never before had she heard those words come out of his mouth, nor had she thought she would. She eyed him warily for a few moments, although she could sense no deceit. Itachi had not been himself lately. For months now, she had the feeling he avoided spending more time at home than was absolutely necessary. He still disregarded any and all of Fugaku's attempts to reconcile with him. Moreover, he and Sasuke barely exchanged any words nowadays. Her efforts to discover the reason for this were still fruitless, but it weighed on her mind. Her family was drifting apart. It caused her no end of pain to feel so powerless to stop it. And still, Mikoto put on a smile. "_Ara_, Itachi, a vacation?"

Itachi visibly relaxed when she took a step back, away from the fridge. "Shisui and another friend both have their birthdays this month," he explained, feeling it was warranted. "We thought we'd all pitch in and do something special together this year to celebrate."

"That does sound wonderful. A bit of teambuilding never hurts, either," she said with a complicit wink.

Leave it to Mikoto to know that her overachieving eldest son would have no friends outside of work, Itachi thought, feeling slightly embarrassed. Although technically, Shisui did not count. He was family, above and beyond their shared blood.

"So, where will you be going?" she asked, pleased enough with the knowledge of Itachi taking a break to return to the sink.

"A nearby _onsen_ resort, nothing too fancy." Itachi preferred to err on the side of caution and be vague about it, lest she realize the facilities to be one of the few remaining traditional ones in the Land of Fire. The _onsen_ they had chosen allowed men and women to bathe together, which was nothing shameful in itself. He merely wished to avoid having that particular conversation with his mother. To his relief, she did not ask for more than he had given, content to instead remind him to try to have fun.

Itachi walked out of the kitchen with a smirk at the notion, only for it to fade at the sight of Sasuke putting on his sandals. He had not sensed him, he realized with some amount of wonder. When had his little brother finally gotten the hang of chakra concealment enough to slip past him unnoticed? How long had he been there, listening in? Not that Itachi had anything to hide, but Sasuke had been going out of his way to avoid him ever since that evening, at the beginning of August.

"_Ohayo_, Sasuke," Itachi said, sitting down to put on his sandals.

Sasuke stood up. He looked down at Itachi with dark eyes that would have curdled milk and a few seconds passed in heavy silence before he replied. "Hey."

He then walked out of the house before Itachi had a chance to say anything more. These short, painful exchanges had become a common occurrence in the past couple of months. Itachi sighed as he finished putting on his footwear. The awkward encounters with his father nowadays were still child's play compared to this. At least, those did not feel like ripping the same wound open time and time again.

_I'm tired of your games, Itachi. I'll be playing by my own rules from now on._

And that, Sasuke had. Itachi painstakingly extricated himself from his memories of that night. He had seen no openings in the walls his little brother had raised since then, and there was no point in dwelling on it. For the moment, all he could do was hope to be given an opportunity, someday. He pushed himself up with a sigh.

"_Ittekimasu_," he said, to no one in particular.

Autumn had made Konoha blush in shades ranging from gold to vermillion, and yet the sunlight was still warm against Itachi's skin as he made his way through the Uchiha district. As much as his heart was not willingly in it, he could not help but admire the color palette of the trees he passed by.

"Itachi-san!"

The warm, feminine voice brought his admiration of nature's artistry to a halt. He turned his head to see a young woman standing in the middle of the road, smiling warmly and waving at him in greeting. The wind swept through her long, brown tresses before allowing them to settle back down.

"Izumi-san," he replied, returning her smile. He remembered her best as the little girl he had helped on an October night many years passed, during the _kyuubi's_ attack on Konoha. The next thing that came to mind was sharing _dango_ with her by the same lake where Sasuke usually sulked nowadays. Itachi and Izumi had joined the Academy together, but he had graduated much earlier. She was still a _chuunin_ from what little he knew. It had been a long time since he had seen her.

"Going on a mission?" she asked, eyeing his backpack.

"Sort of," he said, caught unawares. Luckily, he did not have to say anything more before she spoke, allowing no time for awkwardness to slip in between them.

"Well, I won't keep you, then. Best of luck!"

"Thank you."

Izumi seemed like an easy person to be around, Itachi found himself thinking as she walked by, still holding on to the smile she had greeted him with. She was a bit like Shisui, in that she did not come across much like the rest of their clan. He realized he was excluding himself along with the rest of the Uchiha. Cold. Aloof. Arrogant. Was that how he seemed, even to his own mind? He rolled the thought around in his mind as he walked, slowly making his way out of the district. His feet carried him of their own accord, and it was only halfway that he realized he was headed in the wrong direction. Instead of the village gates, he had been ambling up the streets towards Akane's house.

Smiling softly to himself, Itachi turned around. Such was the force of habit. He had been making this trip with such regularity in the past few months that it was now ingrained in him. Even after signing up for rehabilitation, Akane had not put a stop to their meetings. When team Yon was not out, scouring the country for signs of the Akatsuki, Itachi would spend entire afternoons with her. Twice a week, sometimes three, without fail. Lately, the others had started joining them. Whether they trained or played cards at Akane's place, they would all talk and laugh the hours away, well into the night.

_Please, don't go._

Even now, hearing himself say those words to her made Itachi want to duck his head in embarrassment. His sleep-addled mind had betrayed him. He had given in to that moment of weakness and reached out for her hand with that quiet plea. Worse still, Akane had relinquished. She had slipped under the covers without a word and they had slept through the night on opposite sides of the bed. By morning, neither of them had let go of each other's hand. A pleasant warmth suffused Itachi's chest at the memory of that contact.

To a man, to a _shinobi_, that kind of touch was more of a luxury than salt. Itachi could not remember the last time his mother had held him in her arms. He must have been around five, maybe younger. His father had never coddled him, needless to say. Indeed, the last time he could remember experiencing anything close to this, he had been giving Sasuke a piggyback ride home after he had sprained his ankle during practice. He was fond of that memory, and not even the recent dip in their relationship could tarnish it.

"_Oi_, Itachi!"

Itachi looked up and saw Shisui, framed by Konoha's giant wooden gates, waving at him. He smiled and picked up his pace slightly, realizing that his closest friend was surrounded by the three other members of team Yon. They were all waiting for him, rearing to go.

"Sorry I'm late," Itachi said as he came to a halt before them. His eyes darted among his teammates, until they fell on the shortest figure among them. Akane was smiling warmly, her hands tucked behind her back. Her hair was loose and the change was impossible not to notice, now that it only fell a few inches past her chin in the front and stopped at the base of her neck in the back. "You've cut your hair," he said, unable to keep a hint of surprise from slipping into his tone. Itachi had only ever seen her with long hair.

"Well, yes, I did cut it myself," she said, nitpicking on his choice of words, "but that turned out to be a mess, so I had to have someone fix it for me. People might have mistaken me for a broom, otherwise."

"It only takes a bit of practice," Tsume quipped in. "You wouldn't know it, but I always do it myself."

"That explains a lot," Tenzo said under his breath, eyeing her unruly mane from the corner of his eyes.

Tsume turned her hawk-like gaze to him in less than a second, making him take a step sideways to seek cover behind Shisui. The Inuzuka expelled a breath through her nose, arms akimbo. "Shall we go, then? None of us are getting any younger," she said, then continued to mutter as she picked up her backpack: "You'd think it'd kill them to pay a compliment to a lady."

Shisui snickered as Tenzo gave her a wide berth to retrieve his bag. Itachi smiled and shook his head, before taking the lead. At the casual pace he set, they would arrive at their destination sometime in the afternoon, but for the first time in the years they had been traveling together, they were not in a rush. There would be no information to dig up and no one to hunt and kill at the end of the road. While somewhat foreign, Itachi found the concept not at all unpleasant.

* * *

"Ah, but this sure feels divine," Tsume groaned as she waded through the water towards the three men already chest-deep in, their cheeks flushed from the heat.

The days had been getting short, and the sky above was already filled with a myriad of stars. They were alone in the steaming pools, their faces lit only by the soft, golden glow of paper lanterns hung in the surrounding trees and ornamental vegetation. The air was crisp and, no doubt, chilly, but none of them could feel it through the steam and the heat seeping into their flesh.

Itachi leaned against the warm stones lining the artificial island in the middle of the pool and a contented sigh escaped his lips. If he had known this would be so enjoyable, he would have rallied them for a vacation sooner. Heavens knew they had been in need of one for a long time. The last few months of running around the Land of Fire, scouring the countryside for the Akatsuki or any information pertaining to them had brought them no end of frustration and disappointment. Every painstakingly obtained lead had proven to be a dead end. The trails they found were always cold. The rumors, they could never either prove or disprove. It appeared that, in the aftermath of their encounter with Orochimaru, the Akatsuki had gone to great lengths to lie low and cover their tracks. For all intents and purposes, it seemed the Akatsuki had been swallowed up by the ground itself.

"We're here to relax, Itachi, remember?" Shisui asked, quick to notice the furrow of concentration between his eyebrows.

"Yeah, sorry," Itachi said, glad to be pulled out of the tangle. The Akatsuki was the last thing he wanted on his mind right now.

"Fortunately, there's plenty of ways to get your mind off things tonight," Tsume said with a grin, pulling a floating bamboo tray closer. It was loaded with cups and a bottle of warm _sake_. "This _is_ a celebration, after all," she added, ignoring Tenzo's pointed look.

Itachi raised his gaze and saw Akane coming around the corner, the dark water lapping up almost to the top of her bare shoulders. Her cheeks were already a soft shade of pink from the heat, and her hair was in damp disarray, precariously pinned at the top of her head. Something fluttered in him at the sight, and he surprised himself thinking she looked lovelier like this than she had wearing makeup, on that impossibly hot day when they had gone to see Hiashi Hyuuga.

"Four cups are enough, Tsume-san," Tenzo said. "Itachi-san is still underage, remember?"

"What a load of horse shit," Tsume commented, pouring _sake_ into a fifth cup without a moment's hesitation. "If he's old enough to kill, he's old enough to have a damn drink," she argued. "A cup won't kill him. Or two."

"Tsume-san…" Tenzo bemoaned.

"Cel-e-bra-tion!"

"It's alright, Tenzo-san," Shisui interceded. "I'll take responsibility for Itachi."

"Are we getting the captain drunk tonight, really?" Akane asked with a chuckle as she glided through the water and came to a stop beside Tsume. "On your head be it, Shisui-san. You'll be sharing the room with him."

"I'm right here, you know," Itachi said with a sigh, even as his lips twitched into a smile.

"Grab a cup if you want, then," Tsume said, a twinkle in her eyes. "Tenzo was worried we'd hold you down and pour it down your throat, but we're all responsible adults here."

Tenzo rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, then reached out for a cup. Itachi could not deny being curious. At the same time, he did not want to be left out, for once. Not tonight. Besides, if he somehow did not manage to keep his wits about him, Shisui would take care of him. They all would, if it came down to that, though he doubted it, confident enough in his self-control. In light of that, Itachi was the last one to raise his cup.

"To Shisui-san," Tsume said, motioning with her cup towards him, "and to Akane! Two fine Konoha _shinobi! _I am honored to be working with you. _Kanpaaai!"_

The warm liquid burned its way down Itachi's throat and he almost choked, not having expected it to sting quite so. His eyes squeezed shut at the sensation and his hand shot up to his pursed lips. He quickly became aware of the silence around him and opened his eyes only to realize that the others had been watching him, a knowing smile on their lips.

"How was that, captain?" Tsume asked, grinning.

"How does anyone willingly drink this?" he asked in turn, feeling his tongue tingling.

"_Maa_, give it a few moments to work its magic and you'll understand," she said with a wink.

"This is definitely something you should not encourage, Tsume-san," Tenzo said, placing his empty cup back on the floating tray in their midst.

"Really now, you're so fatalistic," she replied, grabbing the bottle. "Here, have a second cup, maybe it'll help you unwind."

Amid Tenzo's grumbling, Itachi started to feel a strange sort of heat-pain inching down into the muscles of his legs. He leaned his head back against the stones, as if it were suddenly too heavy to keep straight, and thought of how much he would have liked to feel the chill of this October evening blow against his heated forehead. It felt like the blood in his body had suddenly rushed to his head, trying to escape the dark, hot water of the _onsen_ pool.

"How are you feeling, Itachi?" It was Shisui's voice, but it sounded like it was coming from afar. Strange, since his cousin was right beside him. Itachi opened his eyes, though his closed lids were loath to cooperate, and looked at him.

"I'm alright," he decided. The strange sensations washing through him left him feeling weak and somehow vulnerable, but they were not entirely unpleasant. Was this the magic Tsume had spoken of? It certainly seemed like it, and it resembled nothing he had ever felt before.

"Oh, he's alright, all right."

Itachi turned his head in the direction of Akane's soft voice, which seemed to have attained another dimension to it through the haze in his head. It was crystal-clear, unlike his own. His eyes fell upon the elegant curve between her neck and shoulder, lingering there until she cocked her head trying to catch his gaze.

"I'm alright," he repeated, growing self-conscious. He raised a hand to rub the bridge of his nose, though it was more to hide his flush from her than anything. "I still don't understand why anyone would drink this."

Tsume chuckled. "I think you're starting to."

Shisui chuckled as he set his second cup down. He had never thought to use this word to describe Itachi, but suddenly it seemed like the only right one. Itachi was positively _cute_ right now, blushing and blundering and barely holding his own weight, even in the water. There would definitely be no second cup of _sake_ for him anytime soon, however, lest he have the same harrowing first experience as Shisui had, the morning after his first drink. He would not wish that kind of headache on his worst enemies.

"So, is your cousin signing up for the _chuunin_ exams, Akane?" Tsume asked, refilling her own cup for the third time already.

"Reluctantly so. Asuma-san insisted, so Shikamaru didn't have much of a choice."

Itachi's ears perked up, shaken out of his stupor even more. The _chuunin_ exams? A thorn burrowed in his heart. No doubt Kakashi had recommended Sasuke's team for the entry, as well. However, he had heard nothing of it. Sasuke had not breathed a word to him, not that it came as a surprise. Still, he could not help but wonder if his mother knew. Surely, she must have, he argued. Then why had Mikoto not told him?

"I told my Kiba to man up and do it. Kurenai is sensible in this and we agreed that they can't stay children forever. They're more than capable. That they have a choice is a luxury in itself, one we didn't have at their age."

Itachi cringed when Tsume turned her gaze to him. "What about your little brother, Itachi? I hear he's the best of the year's rookies," she said with some amount of distaste, but not begrudgingly. "Kakashi didn't leave them on the sidelines, did he?"

"I… don't think so."

She nodded, and mercifully turned her attention to her cup, emptying it with a satisfied smacking of her lips. "And so, the future is set in motion," she said, somewhat jaded.

"Who's being fatalistic now?" Tenzo quipped, emerging from his sullen silence.

* * *

By the time they left the pool and gathered in one of the inn's rooms for dinner, Itachi's head had cleared completely. Thinking of his little brother had pushed him most of the way towards soberness, but also towards the same unpleasant state of mind which had been dogging him for months. Which was why the sight of the feast laid out on the table for them stirred no happiness in him. If someone had asked him at that moment, he would not have known to say which state he preferred.

Tsume was well into her cups and making Shisui roar with laughter, and even Tenzo chuckled at the stories from her _genin_ days, though he, like Itachi and Akane, had heard them over a dozen times already. He was surprised when Shisui, who had been keeping an eye on him since that first cup of _sake_, took a break from socializing and turned to him with the bottle and a smirk. Itachi would have liked nothing more than to join them in their mirth, which added weight to his decision to accept. He downed the small cup like it was water, though it burned no less than it had the first time. Fortunately, his stomach was full this time around.

"… so, I told her she should chain her damn cat to the radiator. Needless to say, my _sensei_ was less than pleased. He had us run laps around the training ground all afternoon! Kuromaru was the only one who enjoyed it."

Shisui laughter filled the room again. His hand reached out for the last piece of _sushi_ on one of the platters on the table, only to stop short of touching it. Everyone's eyes turned to Akane, whose hands were locked in the Rat seal. "Sorry, Shisui-san," she said, her grasp on his shadow underneath the table quite secure. "I'm afraid I have quite an Akimichi-like approach to the last piece of _sushi_."

"Like I always tell my children: no _jutsus_ in the house unless you really mean to bring it down," Tsume said.

They laughed. Even Itachi chuckled, seeing Shisui taken by surprise like that. It was a rare thing, indeed.

"But since this a shared celebration of our birthdays, I'm willing to compromise," Akane said, splitting the piece in half and offering it to him.

"I think this calls for another round," Tsume said, brandishing the bottle, much to Tenzo's chagrin.

* * *

Akane was the first to retire. It was around midnight, and Tenzo was already dozing off his cups on the table, while Tsume still had it in her to keep pouring for herself and Shisui, who did not have the nerve to say no to her. It was fortunate they had a day in between to sleep it off, Itachi thought as he rose from the table, pleased to find his legs quite stable after his three cups. His cheeks felt quite warm, otherwise.

Tsume reached out for the _sake_ as the panel door slid shut behind Itachi, and she looked at Shisui, not waiting for his approval before refilling his cup, as well. She glanced at Tenzo before shifting her gaze to the Uchiha. "You and I both know where Itachi's going," she said, and the seriousness in her tone was enough for him to grasp her meaning, and avert his gaze. "Why won't you tell him how you feel?"

Shisui smirked and accepted the drink with a nod of his head before downing it like a man with a thirst. "What good would that do?" he asked. Even with the thought of that dreadful morning headache, he did not feel drunk enough for this conversation. Tsume was the woman who could smell a lie (or a truth, in his case), but he had known Itachi for longer than any of them. He had noticed. It would have been impossible not to, what with the puppy eyes in the pool. He could not blame Itachi for being attracted to Akane.

"It's not too late, you know," she said.

"This is not about what I want," Shisui said. "And even if it were, what I want is for him to be happy. Whatever it takes. Really, Tsume-san, I didn't take you for such a hopeless romantic."

"I just don't think it's fair," Tsume muttered. "To either of you."

Itachi padded his way across the hall, tugging at the hem of his _yukata_. He was not used to wearing one. Although it was comfortable, he was more used to his usual attire, in which he could hide weapons without fear of them falling out. Funny, even covered up as he was, he felt naked without weapons. The knot which settled in his stomach as he stopped in front of her door did not help. He still did not entirely trust his legs to support him, or his tongue to deliver the words he meant.

His hand reached out to knock before he could change his mind. There was a long moment of silence until Akane opened the door, surprised to find him standing there.

"I didn't get to give you your birthday present," he said, pleased with the steadiness in his tone.

"I was under the impression that medical compendium was a joint effort," she replied, leaning against the doorframe with a smile.

"It was. But I have… something on the side," Itachi said, pulling out a piece of paper from the sleeve of his _yukata_.

Akane took it, wordless. Itachi watched her facial expression as she pried open the folded paper and her eyes darted up and down across, widening with every row, until they shot back up to him. He smiled at her look of disbelief. He had been watching her progress within the rehabilitation program for some time now. If anything, the news was overdue.

"Welcome back to the team," he said.

"I haven't been cleared yet," she said, looking apologetic as she handed him back the paper.

Itachi pushed back her hand, refusing to accept the paper. "That's what you get for signing yourself up under Morino Ibiki's care after slighting him from your hospital bed. But this is as much my right to decide, as it is his. In any case, it doesn't mean you should stop. It just means that I want you back on the team."

"You want?" she echoed. "What about what I want?"

"That paper is not binding in any way. It would, indeed, take both my word and Morino's to make that possible. You take it, or leave it until you think you're ready. It's up to you."

His words gave Akane pause. Her eyes drifted down to the paper in her hand, her fingers locked on to it, not entirely willing to let go. It was not just a paper he had given her. It was a choice. Her hand trembled. One too many times so far, she had been deprived of the luxury of making a choice for herself. Becoming a medic-nin. Joining the ANBU. Trusting Itachi. Putting herself through rehabilitation. Each and every time, she had doubted herself. Things had turned out well, but the hesitation lingered, the fear still deeply ingrained. There was a fine line between confidence and overconfidence. She would have felt safer not walking it. And at the same time…

"I suppose it would be rude not to accept your gift," she said, holding the folded piece of paper against her chest. "Thank you, Itachi."

When her eyes rose up to meet his, Itachi's expression gave her pause. Soft and vulnerable and contrite. _Please, don't go,_ he had said,the last time he had looked at her like this. The first time, he had poked her forehead, a gesture she still did not understand. Where did she stand in the middle of this? Hearing the song was not the same as listening to it, yet she found herself yearning to dance, even without knowing the steps: to get lost in it. Weightless. Fearless.

Whole.

Akane's soft hand clasped around his and she leaned in on the tips of her toes to place the ghost of a kiss on his cheek. She smelled like cherries.

**I'm sorry for this late update. Real life beats fiction and things got hectic. Anyway, a few words about this chapter. It's meant as an interlude, of sorts, setting the scene after a short timeskip. I suppose you could also take it as the quiet before the storm :) Hope you enjoyed! **


	17. Shinobi

**Chapter 17 – Shinobi**

_The obi came undone. A pale shoulder came into view as she shrugged, the kimono's silk whispering against her skin. He swallowed, drinking in the very picture of perfection unfolding before him as he leaned back on the bed invitingly. But his kitten was in the mood to play tonight, and she turned with her back to him, peeling off the layers of silk one after another. She let them drape enticingly midway down, before slipping out of them completely._

"Kakashi-sensei!"

_Swathed in moonlight, her skin glowed with a silver sheen. He licked his lips at the sight, only to find his throat suddenly getting dry as she sashayed towards him: a naked goddess, coming to bind him to her will, coming to-_

"Ka-ka-shi-senseeeei!"

Kakashi sighed and peered over his book. "Yes, Naruto?" he asked, eyeing him impassively. The blond was glaring daggers at him, while pointing at Sasuke in the same agitated way someone would be swatting with at a particularly annoying fly.

"You said _taijutsu_ training today, but all Sasuke-_teme_ does is trip me up and cramp my style!"

"Whose fault is it that you keep falling for the same trick, _dobe_?"

Kakashi lowered the _Icha Icha_ volume and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Tripping your opponent is still _taijutsu_, Naruto. It's not against the rules. Why don't you try to work with Sakura, like I asked you to, instead of charging in by yourself?"

Naruto made a face and begrudgingly turned to face Sasuke, who eased into a defensive posture. Kakashi watched his three students for a while, making sure they resumed their training rather than their bickering, before returning to his book. He lowered his eye to the pages, ready to delve back in for the good part of the chapter, when a gust of wind turned the page he was currently at. Kakashi sighed again and turned to greet the _shinobi _who had just used a transportation _jutsu_ to appear beside him in a whirl of leaves.

"_Yo_, Itachi."

"Hello, Kakashi-san," Itachi said, balancing himself on the balls of his feet on the edge of the rooftop overlooking the training ground. He was in full ANBU outfit, and only his sharingan glowed red from the dark slits in his mask.

"Mission?" Kakashi asked.

"Applied tactics training."

"Mm," he said, turning his attention back to the three figures darting through the fallen leaves carpeting the training ground. "How did that go?"

"We're adapting well enough, considering we're a five-man squad now. It occurred to me that I didn't get to thank you for talking to Akane."

"You're welcome, but that was months ago," Kakashi pointed out nonchalantly. "Why are you really here, Itachi?" He did not have to see Itachi's face to sense his hesitation.

"Will they be entering the _chuunin_ exams?" he asked, after a telltale pause.

So, Sasuke had not told him. Kakashi went on a limb and assumed this to mean things were not going well between him and Itachi. It would certainly explain a lot about the youngster's demeanor over the past couple of months. While his skills had seen a vast improvement in light of his newfound training drive, Sasuke had become rather closed off, bordering on unreceptive to his input, as well as downright hard on his teammates for being unable to keep up.

_My name is Sasuke Uchiha. I hate a lot of things, and I don't particularly like anything. What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. _

Now, more than ever, Sasuke seemed determined to make those words come true. "The first stage is tomorrow," he said. "They've already signed up for it."

Itachi said nothing, swallowing the bitter pill without giving away his distaste. After a long deliberation, he had preferred coming to Kakashi instead of asking Mikoto, in order to avoid an unpleasant discussion with her on the exact reason Sasuke had not told him himself. It was no less unpleasant to find out from Kakashi, however, and he was grateful for the cover of his ANBU mask.

Especially when Sasuke glanced in their direction and spotted him. Itachi watched his younger brother parry a blow from Naruto, and then another, using the grip he had attained to unceremoniously spin and throw him away. Sakura hesitated and decided not to charge without Naruto, backing up a few steps. Sasuke then turned his full attention to him, and Itachi felt something coil tightly in his stomach.

"Come down here, Itachi," Sasuke said, his glaring eyes already red with his nascent sharingan. Naruto and Sakura peered up curiously, following his gaze to the strange ANBU member sitting beside their _sensei_.

Sasuke was getting riled up just at the sight of his older brother, Kakashi noted. Another point supporting his earlier assumption. Beside him, Itachi remained still and impassive – at least on the surface. Deep down, he was no doubt entertaining the thought of obliging the demand. Before, perhaps, sparring with Itachi would have served as a motivator. Now, Kakashi was not so certain it would have a desirable effect on the young Uchiha.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha," Kakashi recited in a low voice, ensuring no one but Itachi would hear. "What I have is not a dream, because I will make it a reality. I'm going to surpass my older brother."

_I'm going to _make_ you see me._

With an almost imperceptible nod to Kakashi, Itachi jumped off the rooftop and landed before his little brother, soundless as a shadow. He stood up to his full height, holding Sasuke's gaze. One _tomoe_ in his left eye, two in his right one. One more _tomoe_ than the last time he had peered into his sharingan. While it would have been interesting to see exactly how much his little brother had progressed, Kakashi's words had been intended as a warning. Now was not the time to test him, not with his teammates here to witness his inevitable failure.

"Stop, Sasuke," Itachi said, his own sharingan quick to notice Sasuke's muscles tensing under his skin, ready to serve. "I can't stay, I'm sorry. Maybe-"

Sasuke suddenly vanished. Itachi parried the leg hit aimed at his side from behind, where his little brother had promptly relocated before he had gotten to finish his sentence.

"No," Sasuke growled, shifting his stance for a second hit. "Not 'maybe next time'. Now."

"Now is not a good time," Itachi said, spinning on his heels to catch his fist. Sasuke was successfully forcing him into a game he did not wish to play. Itachi relinquished his hold and jumped back to disengage, only to see Sasuke charging. He had gotten faster. His sharingan caught the glint of metal and he drew his sword to parry the kunai. "Please stop this," he said.

"Not a chance."

Itachi gritted his teeth. The edge of his sword sang as it tipped away the kunai expertly, the sudden shift catching Sasuke by surprise and throwing him off-balance. His eyes widened, but his body was yet unadjusted to the sharingan's power and his reaction was not fast enough to prevent what he saw coming. Itachi twisted one arm behind his back and pushed him to the ground, quickly pinning down his other arm, as well. His knee pressed firmly between Sasuke's shoulder blades. "I just wanted to wish you good luck on the _chuunin_ exams, _otouto," _he said.

"I hate you," Sasuke sputtered, managing to turn his head enough to glare at him.

_Not as much as I love you_, _little brother_, Itachi thought, a bitter smile on his lips. Maybe one day, Sasuke would understand. But not today, it seemed. He released him and formed a hand seal, vanishing in a whirl of leaves. From the hiding place he had transported himself to, he watched his little brother force himself to his feet and dust off his clothes.

Kakashi was only half listening to Naruto's chatter, as he and Sakura approached a Sasuke who most certainly did not seem in the mood to be pelleted with questions. Truth be told, the young Uchiha had at least succeeded in forcing his older brother to spar, which was a rare feat. Itachi leaving without a word would have been more upsetting than giving him a taste of the dust when he would not back down. This would inflame Sasuke for the time being, but maybe it would die down sooner, rather than later. One could only hope.

"Kakashi-senseeeei!" Naruto cried out in a rather nasal voice. "Sasuke-_teme_ is leaving!"

When Kakashi looked up, he saw fresh blood gushing from Naruto's nose and Sasuke stalking off the grounds. This was going to be a longer day than he had originally anticipated. Alas, it seemed he would have no time to finish the chapter.

* * *

Hiashi Hyuuga pulled the fur cloak tighter around himself and warmed his hands on the steaming cup of tea in front of him. No matter the time of year or the weather, he would always enjoy his afternoon tea on the back porch, overlooking the _zen_ garden. The silence here drew him into a meditative state, out of the mire of thoughts which usually loomed like a dark cloud over the head of a clan. Today, however, it appeared he would not have the chance to enjoy his tea in peace.

"I was wondering when you would come back," he said, not even needing the Byakugan to detect and identify the unwelcome visitor. "I was, however, hoping that you would not rile up my guards by doing so. The girl had more sense than you in this. Have a care."

Itachi stood up, keeping to the shadows behind Hiashi as three Hyuuga clansmen dashed through the garden, alerted by the unexpected presence at their leader's side.

"Hiashi-sama!" one of them cried out.

Hiashi merely raised a hand and they all came to a halt, in spite of their confusion. "It's alright," he said. "He's not an enemy."

The Hyuugas eyed Itachi from head to toe, as if to make sure, though what they could possibly glean beyond the fact that he was an ANBU member, he had no idea. Or was it that their vigilant Byakugan had identified him as an Uchiha, which had alarmed them so? There had not been a turf war between the members of their clans in ages. However, he supposed it could not be helped. The majority of Konoha's population regarded the Uchihas with suspicion, if not downright distaste. "I apologize, Hiashi-sama," Itachi said as Hiashi's guards gave them back their privacy. "I'm afraid I have less time for social visits these days."

"Business it is, then," Hiashi said, motioning for him to join him at the low, lacquered table. As if to make a point, however, he offered him no tea. "Have you found my brother?"

"We haven't found a single trace of him since our first encounter." He said not a word of Suisen being part of the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki. That was still classified information. "But this is what I came here to speak to you about. When we do find him-"

Hiashi scoffed. "So, you've finally figured out the solution to this problem, have you?"

Itachi's eyes narrowed at the older man's derision. "I assure you, Hiashi-sama, that my team is more than capable of taking him down," he said, keeping his tone level and polite, although it had gained a cold edge to it. "However, Hokage-sama would prefer it if we took as few risks as possible, and hopes that we may be able to bring him in alive. The last time I was here, you offered us your help."

"Still insolent, I see," Hiashi said, sipping calmly from his tea.

"Forgive me, Hiashi-sama, but you would not be the first person whose day I've ruined. I must know: do you plan to go back on your word?"

Hiashi's nostrils flared as the trap sprung shut around him. The woman's presence had tempered the Uchiha boy the last time they had been here. Now there was nothing holding him back, and he had had the leverage to back him into a corner. More the fool he, for having allowed it. As much as he detested Fugaku, he had to give it to him: he had raised a clever, competent son and heir. The boy knew when to hold back and when to press his advantage. "Careful where you throw your accusations," he said.

"It was only a question, Hiashi-sama, whatever you believe it may have implied, and you still haven't provided me with an answer to it."

Hiashi shoved his hands into the sleeves of his _kimono_ to keep warm. Though lightly dressed, the Uchiha did not seem to feel the biting cold. He was sitting still as a statue, and no doubt even his face was made of stone behind that painted mask. A prodigy, indeed. One who, in a matter of minutes, had managed to play on his nerves more than others who had actually tried. To think Hinata would be the one to deal with him, when they would eventually take his and Fugaku's place as heads of their respective clan. If only Hanabi had been born first, he would have had no doubts about the future of the Hyuuga clan. The least he could do was deal with this stain on their name.

"I gave you my word freely, Uchiha," he said, his tone losing some of its hardness. "Do you hold so little trust in your heart that you would question it?"

There was a moment of silence before the Uchiha's slightly bowed head straightened up. Hiashi met the sharingan's eerie glow.

"When I wear this mask, I cannot keep my heart."

Hiashi felt a cold shiver run down his spine at the dark words that came out from the boy's mouth. This boy… this mere boy was more than just another haughty Uchiha. He was a _shinobi_, in the true sense of the word. The notion which most of them sought to grasp and encompass, what they could only flail at all their lives without ever realizing the extent of their failure… this _boy_ embodied that. But whatever admiration that realization stirred within him was quickly drowned by pity. He was too young to carry this darkness. Was this what he wanted Hinata to become? For the first time, the answer frightened him.

"Hiashi-sama."

Hiashi looked up, surprised to find himself so shaken and distraught. It was an unsightly display and he had difficulty recomposing himself. He had stood before the mirror and it had shown him a true reflection, shattering the illusion of his existence.

"Yes, Uchiha," he said, though his voice no longer carried the strength and superiority he had so proudly thought warranted. "I will come with you myself, when the time comes. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

He was the only one who could do this. His father was too old, the grudge Suisen held against him likely too great to risk sending him. No, it was his duty now, as the head of the Hyuuga clan and Suisen's older brother to put him in his place. Deep down, he had known it would come to this from the moment he had learned he was alive. Activating the _juinjutsu _Suisen had been branded with as a child was the only means to subdue him before he could cause more damage. What would it be like, he wondered, to look into the face of a brother he had thought dead all these years?

"You will be well protected, Hiashi-sama," the Uchiha said, standing up to leave, now that he had obtained a satisfactory answer from him. He was stopped short by Hiashi's next words.

"You have a little brother, don't you?"

The ANBU turned his head slightly. There, a crack in the mask, Hiashi thought ruefully. A well-guarded heart was still a heart, no matter how many walls one put up around it. "What would you do if you were in my place?" he asked.

But the crack was gone, as quickly as it had appeared. "Whatever I had to."

To save him or to stop him? Hiashi wondered, but that question remained unasked and unanswered as the Uchiha vanished, leaving him alone on the veranda, with nothing a cup of cold tea and a mouthful of bitterness for company.

* * *

_I hate you._

Itachi pushed too much chakra into his feet and the shingle on the roof cracked when he stepped on it.

_What would you do if you were in my place?_

The half-truth burned on his lips as much as any lie, because the whole truth was that he did not know what he would do if Sasuke were to go down that path. _My duty_, some part of him whispered, strangled by the pain the very thought brought on. How far did one have to go to be beyond redemption, beyond salvation? For all the blood on his hands, could he honestly say he would do his duty if it ever came down to that?

His stomach turned violently and he stopped by the side of a dark alley to vomit, though nothing came out of him. He crumpled in the bushes, clutching at his chest as the breath hitched in his throat. When it finally came out, he could not stop. The air went in an out at an alarming rate and he found himself unable to regain control over it.

Sasuke's downward spiral… he could see it all too clearly. The kunai he had drawn against him earlier today had carried the weight of an intent to hurt, to kill even. While with or without that, Sasuke had not stood a chance today, someday he might. Then that same kunai would pierce his heart without fail and cause him the same unbearable pain which was tearing through him now.

_Stop. Get a hold of yourself._

He drew in air to the point where his lungs felt like bursting. It came out slowly, and shakily. Pause. Breathe in. Pause. Breathe out. Control. He could not afford to come down over this now. Over nothing.

The ANBU mask was cold to the touch and heavy in his hand, the string hanging loosely in the frost-touched grass, having snapped in Itachi's rush to rip the damn thing off his face. He shivered in the cold air. A tickling sensation in his throat turned into a sudden fit of coughing. The pain in his chest bloomed anew, searing with every hungry intake of cold air. It took a few minutes for it to subside, and when he lowered the hand from his mouth, there were specks of blood in his palm. The sight of his own blood made him dizzy.

_Well, shit. _That's what Tsume would have said of it, he thought, running his clean hand through the hair plastered on his forehead. As if this day could not get any worse. There was plenty of it left, and still no time for him to hang on the verge of yet another breakdown, regardless. He picked up his now useless mask, and pushed himself off the ground and into the night.

* * *

Sasuke picked at his food, absentmindedly pushing a pea around his plate with the chopsticks. His head was propped up on the other arm. He could care less about manners right now, with his shoulder still sore from having been twisted. Part of him knew Itachi could have done far worse, which only served to further infuriate him. Itachi still did not take him seriously. How could he, when it had taken him under a minute to immobilize him? His attempt to stab the pea with the bamboo chopsticks caught his father's attention, but only for a moment.

"Where's Itachi?" Fugaku asked Mikoto.

Sasuke bristled, and this time, the blunt end of the chopsticks turned the pea into green mush. Both Fugaku and Mikoto turned their heads to him. "You don't like your food?" Mikoto asked, a soft trace of concern in her voice.

"You know I hate peas," Sasuke said.

"Well, we can have something else tomorrow evening. How does _ramen_ sound?"

The chopsticks came down harder against the table than he would have liked, but either way, there was no taking it back now. "May I be excused?" he asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

Mikoto's eyes darted to her husband, an unspoken panic surging in them. He failed to grasp her meaning in due time and Sasuke took their silence for the answer he wanted to hear. His chair scraped against the floor, and she listened to his footsteps along the hall, until the door to his room slammed shut. With each of those sounds, something in her died. She felt her heart turn to stone and slumped into a chair, running a hand through her hair with a sigh.

"Damn it, Fugaku," she said in a low, deceptively calm voice. "Damn it to the seven hells."

"What?" he asked, only to realize as she raised her head to glare at him. How many years had it been since he had seen her using the sharingan? He had forgotten its sinister edge. Had forgotten its existence altogether. All these years since she had given up the _shinobi _life to bear and then raise their sons, he had forgotten that she was the _kunoichi_ who had once bested him in a sparring match.

This was her scoffing at him now. "For all your visual prowess, you are hopelessly blind, I swear. You-"

Fortunately for him, the sound of the front door opening and closing put a stop to it all before it even really began. Once that sweet temperament came down crashing, Mikoto was a force to be reckoned with.

"_Tadaima,_" came Itachi's voice from the hallway.

The sharingan faded to black in Mikoto's eyes, though her glare held Fugaku in its grip for another moment before she rose from the chair to welcome their oldest son home. Fugaku leaned into his hand, feeling both guilty and uncertain at the same time. Where had it all gone wrong?

"_Okaerinasai," _Mikoto said, putting on a smile as she stepped into the hallway. Itachi finished removing his sandals and stood up. He looked pale and weary, and it broke her heart to see him like this. He had only returned from his vacation two days before. "Dinner is still warm. Would you like to eat?"

"Thank you, but I'd rather go to sleep."

Mikoto hesitated, her lips parting with no sound coming out. Itachi noticed and paused. The tensions in their family were bearing down hard on her, as well. It could not have been easy to walk on eggshells every day, knowing that she remained the one member of the family keeping them all together. Their one, common ground.

"You don't look so well," she said, feeling a pang of sadness that he would not even look at her. She had failed him, too, she knew all too well. She could see it every time she looked in his eyes, and now he would not even meet her gaze. "Are you feeling alright?"

"Just tired," he said. If he kept spinning this web of lies around him, he would soon be trapped in it, Itachi thought. After all, he had learned from the best spider, he thought with no little amount of distaste. The web would bleed him dry, eventually, but it could not be helped. He would protect his mother from the truth if it meant one less thing for her to worry about. _Is it her you're protecting, though, or is it yourself?_ He swallowed the guilt which accompanied that thought. Sometimes, it felt like he did not really take off the ANBU mask at the end of the day.


	18. Tipping Point

**Chapter 18 – Tipping Point**

Itachi turned, groaning into his hand. The sheets were tangled around him, soaked through with sweat. He had tossed and turned all night, his sleep plagued by dreams of endless corridors, where his little brother's steps echoed and no matter how much he ran in search for him, he could never find him. He ran a hand through his matted hair and turned again, on his back this time. He stared at the ceiling for a few moments, feeling grateful the night was at least finally over.

His head pulsed with pain when he sat up and Itachi allowed himself a moment to adjust to its intensity, before proceeding to strip the sheets off his bed. He may be late for training today, but he could not show up like this. A hot shower eased some of the tension in his shoulders, but did little against his throbbing head, so he padded down the hall to look for his mother, hoping she would have some medicine for the pain.

He found Mikoto in the kitchen, as usual, only their dinner table was covered with old newspapers, to protect it from the soil she was pouring into small flowerpots. She was distracted enough not to notice him peeking in, and he was able to catch a glimpse of sadness etched on her face. It was gone the next moment, replaced by a wan smile when she sensed his presence. "_Ohayo_," she said, removing her gardening gloves. "I thought I'd have enough time to plant these tomato seeds before you woke up."

Tomatoes. One of Sasuke's favorites. Mikoto grew them every year for him, first planting the seeds in an indoor nursery, then transferring them to the garden. "Isn't it a bit early for that?" he asked, remembering that she used to plant them in late winter or early spring. Whichever it was, he was certain she had never done this in autumn before.

"I suppose it is," she said distractedly. "I'll clear it all up in a moment. What would you like for breakfast?"

_Painkillers. _"Just tea. I can make it myself," he added when she was already turning on her heels to reach for the kettle. He saw her hesitating, and was relieved when she relinquished control over the kitchen. He set water to boil as Mikoto started clearing the table instead, seemingly bent on keeping her hands busy regardless of whether or not she had someone to fuss over. Every once in a while, a shadow would cross her face.

Itachi watched her quietly as he waited for the water to boil, arms crossed and leaning against the counter. He wanted to say something, but could not find the words to say it. Nothing seemed right. He had never seen her so miserable, so unguarded. "I'm sorry," he said, unable to refrain himself, but at least managing to stop before his voice started shaking.

Mikoto looked up, and this time there was no warm smile on her face, nor even the slightest hint of surprise. Only pain. "Did you know?" she asked. "About the _chuunin_ exams?"

His heart gave a painful twinge. Was this why she was upset? Had Sasuke told her before leaving this morning? "I thought you knew."

Shock. Hurt. Her hand reached out for the small trowel she had used and knocked over a clay pot, which crashed against the floor. The sudden, loud sound amplified Itachi's headache and he almost cringed, but instead he bent down to help her clean up.

"Don't," she said. "Please."

"I only found out yesterday," he said, but his voice barely rose to a whisper as he saw her eyes fill with tears. "I really thought-"

She cut him off. "What happened between the two of you?"

_I hate you._

Itachi recoiled inwardly. No. He could not do this. Not now, not without unravelling. It would have been better if he had said nothing to her at all. "I'll fix it," he said quickly, turning off the stove as a wave of nausea took his mind off the tea. "I promise I'll fix it."

Tears rolled down on his mother's cheeks and the sight of them made something twist painfully within him. What little light remained in her downcast eyes was enough to convey her disappointment in him. She needed no words for that, and her silence spoke for itself. Itachi felt a familiar numbness spread through his flesh, starting with his face. There was nothing more to be said. Whatever remained, he swallowed, unwilling to let Mikoto taste more bitterness.

* * *

Shisui dashed, his after-images filling the meadow as he zig-zagged. He could feel the strain in his eyes as he struggled to take in, adapt and dodge within an infinitesimal timeframe, then the already familiar dip in his morale as his muscles froze, unable to obey his commands. _Damn it._

"Is he at it again?" Tsume asked. She was balancing herself on a floating log for her workout, doing single-leg squats on it. Kuromaru was watching her impassively from the edge of the pond, having done more than his fair share of dynamic marking around the training ground.

"Mhm," Tenzo said, throwing a glance at Shisui before lowering his eyes back down to the task at hand, which was sharpening his weapons.

"And you all thought I was stubborn," she scoffed.

"He's determined."

"You really can't compliment a lady."

Shisui set himself back at the limit of Akane's range, feeling his lungs burn and his muscles soaked through with adrenaline. It had been a long time since he had encountered such a challenge, and he was pleased to find it somewhat addictive. "Again!" he said, bracing himself.

Akane obliged. _Kage no Mai!_

The dark tails sprang forth from her shadow, and she lowered her eyes to Shisui's feet, as befit an opponent bearing the _sharingan_. He was fast, the fastest she had been up against so far, and it was no less straining for her to counter his speed than it was for him to try to dodge all her shadows to get to her. If he did, it was game over, but he had not. No sooner did she sense him behind her than a shadow-tail swept the ground, catching him as he was aiming his _tanto_ for her exposed back. He was still the only one to ever get so close.

"Crazy _jutsu_," he panted as she released the shadows.

"Crazy speed," she said with a smirk, turning to face him.

Tsume turned her head slightly, straining every muscle in her legs to keep her balance, only to see Shisui and Akane bumping fists. "Did he…?"

"No," Tenzo said.

"Any more of this and they'll be out of _chakra_ before Itachi even arrives. Where is he, anyway?" she wondered out loud, easing down into another squat. Then her eyes fell on Tenzo. "Say, while you're still at it, could you…?"

"Polish your own weapons."

"I'd rather polish _your_ weapon," she said sweetly.

Tenzo face grew red as the leaves dotting the yellow carpet on the training ground. "Tsume-san!"

She threw her head back and laughed, only for her leg to slip as the log turned. _Shit._ She saw the water of the pond rushing up to meet her and shut her eyes in anticipation of the biting cold, only to feel the wind sweep through her hair as a pair of arms wrapped around her, safely transporting her to the edge of the pond. When she opened her eyes, it was Tenzo's frown she met.

"I didn't take you for a romantic, sweeping a woman off her feet like this," she said as he put her down.

"Even ladies can catch a cold if they fall into a pond at this time of the year," Tenzo said.

Tsume's eyes widened with surprise at the softness accompanying his words, but she had no time to revel in it before she caught a familiar scent.

Shisui looked up to see Itachi finally make an appearance in their midst, by now over an hour late. The smile died on his lips when he met his gaze, however. There seemed to be a reason for his being late, and it was not the pleasant kind. The leaves crunched as Akane made a step forward, towards him, but Shisui held out a hand to stop her. His eyes did not leave Itachi's for a single moment.

"Spar with me," he said to him.

Itachi nodded.

Akane reluctantly stepped back, giving them the space they needed. Whatever Shisui had sensed to make him so tense all of the sudden, she was certain it was not the same thing. However, Itachi had consented. She could not interfere now.

Red bled into black. They lunged at each other without a moment's thought or hesitation, _kunai_ meeting _tanto_ with a small shower of sparks before they broke the deadlock, each blurring through the same hand seals as they jumped away. _Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu! _Flames engulfed the middle ground, scorching the dead leaves to ash. They were oblivious to the three pairs of wide eyes watching them.

_Shuriken_ whizzed through the air towards Shisui and he dashed to avoid them, but the wires Itachi controlled them with changed their trajectory at the last moment, pushing his _Shunshin no jutsu_ to the limit. He had already strained himself against Akane, and Itachi was not holding back. This may well spell out disaster for his pride, but Shisui knew he had to defuse the bomb. Nothing else mattered.

"Does anyone else get the feeling this is more like a death-match than a spar?" Tsume asked, unable to suppress a shudder. The air was thick with smoke from the burning leaves on the ground, but also an almost palpable tension. She did not want to imagine what it was like for the two _shinobi _facing each other off. There was a viciousness in them that seemed almost animalistic and it made her hackles rise. "Maybe we should stop them before someone really gets hurt."

"They wouldn't hurt each other," Tenzo said, although his voice lacked conviction. Itachi's combat style had always been clean, not a move wasted, not a weapon drawn or _jutsu_ used without reason. To those who knew what he was capable of, it always seemed as if he held back in fights. But the truth was that he had never seen Itachi like this, in all their years together in the ANBU.

Their swords clanged in the midst of the _shuriken_-littered ground, their feet scuffing though the dust and ashes under the force of the impact. Shisui gritted his teeth. If Itachi kept pushing him like this, he would be unable to hold back. The fight would be over before all the venom was out of Itachi's system and then it would have all been for nothing. They never had and probably never would be evenly matched. Keeping the balance was the most challenging part of any sparring match between them, and today he was making it harder for him.

Sensing Shisui's hesitation, Itachi made his move and overpowered him. Shisui managed to pull back before being completely exposed, but as their blades slid against each other in a parting kiss, the tip of Itachi's sword cut through his cheek. Mindless of the warm blood running down his face, Shisui single-handedly formed the seals and he breathed out fire to cover his retreat.

Itachi pulled back to dodge the fireball, only for Shisui to suddenly materialize in between and deliver a kick into his stomach. He barely registered the pain of that before his body slammed into a tree, knocking the air out of him. His vision blurred and darkened. His lip throbbed where he had bit into it and the metallic taste of blood lingered on his tongue as he came to. His legs were trembling now and forcing himself to get up did not go well. He collapsed at the base of the tree, panting, his _sharingan_ fading as he no longer had the strength to keep it up.

"Get up."

Itachi looked up to meet Shisui's cold, hard gaze. It seemed so out of place on his friend's face that some part of him wanted to laugh. The rest of him still coiled, unsated, raging against the pain like a maddened beast. His legs kicked at the ground once more and he used the tree behind him to drag himself in an upright position, even as its bark scraped against the skin on his back. His head swam, white stars exploding across his field of vision.

Footsteps crunched through the leaves. "That's enough."

Shisui turned his head to Akane, who stepped between them, pushing his blade out of the way with little consideration for its sharp edge. Of course, she did not understand. He did not blame her. "Don't coddle him," he said.

"That's not your call to make," she replied, matching the edge in his tone with her own. "He's sick."

Shisui kept the frown from his face as his eyes slipped past her, to Itachi. He was panting, sweat shimmering on his face. One of his hands was clutching at his chest as the rest of him leaned heavily against the tree for support. The flush on his cheeks may have been from the effort, but also something else. He had misattributed the signs to Itachi's state of mind. He had been careless. Thoughtless. He bit his lip in frustration and sheathed his blade.

Akane spun on her heels, but Itachi caught her hand before it touched his forehead. "We're not done," he said, his eyes still trained on Shisui.

But the hardness was gone from Shisui's face and he now looked contrite. "Yes, we are," he said. "I suggest you listen to her before she runs us both through with the Chidori."

Itachi pushed himself off the tree, making a show of the obstinacy running in his Uchiha blood. It pained Shisui to have to resort to such methods to stop him, but he was left with no choice. The _sharingan's_ _tomoe_ spun hypnotically, and Itachi's weakened state made him unable to resist the_ genjutsu_. The pain ebbed away, lulled into a warm numbness that swept over him like a tide, drawing him under. Darkness engulfed him and he embraced it, having longed for the peace it promised.

Shisui rushed forward to catch Itachi as his body slumped down, all the fight knocked out of him for the moment. Akane knelt beside him, wordless as she felt his forehead and then held out her hands over his chest, green chakra already glowing. Shisui did not need to be a medic to tell Itachi had a fever. He could feel him burning up in his arms like a festival bonfire. How had nothing hinted at this throughout their fight? It seemed Itachi was bent on control even when trying so hard to let go.

Tsume and Tenzo arrived, worry written on their faces at the sight of their captain out cold. "What the hell happened?" Tsume asked. "Is he alright?"

"Just unconscious, he'll come to in a few hours," Shisui said for his part. The rest would be up to Akane.

Their brief exchange did not cause her to lose focus and the glow of her chakra amplified as she delved deeper into his lungs, where she sensed not all was as it should have been. His immune system may have riled up against the intrusion, but it was weak, having allowed the infection to settle in nicely in the first place. There was not much she could do about it at the moment.

"He needs bed rest and treatment," she said. "I'll get him the medicine. Could you take him home, Shisui-san?"

"Mm, I'm not sure he would appreciate that," he said, looking apologetic. Itachi's relationship with his family had been strained of late. Shisui even suspected that strain to be the cause of today's outburst. Moreover, Mikoto would be beside herself with worry if he were to show up with an unconscious Itachi in tow. Itachi always did hate making her worry. It would have been safer to take him someplace else for the time being. He was about to suggest his house when Akane spoke up.

"My place then," she said, asking no questions. "You get to play the nurse."

"So, he's sick?" Tsume asked. "He seemed alright yesterday."

"He's been sick for quite some time. It would have been largely asymptomatic until now, but the infection has reached stage four. His immune system could not fight it." Akane seemed to realize she could not have been making much sense to them, because she was quick to put their minds at ease. "He'll be alright. He just needs to take his pills and take it easy for a few weeks."

"I don't want to be there when you break the news to him, princess."

Akane lowered her eyes to Itachi's face. True enough, taking it easy was bound to be a foreign concept to him. His immune system would have been fine if he had taken better care of himself. However, part of her understood his drive. She had nearly driven herself to self-destruction a while back to escape her demons. Whatever his were, he seemed as hellbent to escape them. It was an all too familiar path. Itachi should have known better, she thought bitterly.

* * *

Shisui carried him on his back all the way to her house, and Itachi did not stir once. "Is that why you wanted to step in before we fought?" Shisui asked Akane, who had been quiet so far.

"I could tell something was wrong, though not the exact extent of it."

"You should have said something. I wouldn't have gone through with it if I'd known."

"And you would have knocked him out with a _genjutsu_ from the get go?"

"Point taken." In his state of mind, Itachi would not have relented. At least this way, he had blown out some of the steam. Not that Shisui did not feel guilty for roughing him up in his condition. That kick to the stomach alone would be black and blue in no time. He hoped Akane would take care of it before Itachi woke up. "Back there, you made it sound like it isn't a big deal," he said. "But is it serious?"

Akane's eyes darted to him. There was genuine concern on his face and he was Itachi's closest friend. She did not want to lie to him, but she did not see how the truth would help, either. "Why does it matter? It's treatable."

He chuckled. "No offense, Akane-san, but I can see why field work suits you better than the hospital. You need to work on your communication skills."

"What would you have me say? That it's the kind of disease that kills if left untreated? Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Yep, terrible bedside manner."

"My job is to keep you all alive, not coddle you," she snapped.

"Well, if it ever comes to it, just let me die," he said, more sharply than he had intended. Akane glared at him and said nothing more. Shisui cursed himself for his blunder. He was upset with himself and taking it out on her. It was unbecoming of him. "I'm sorry, that was uncalled for."

She accepted the apology with a nod of her head just as they arrived at her house. "Take him to the bedroom, the loveseat's too small," she said. "I'll be there in a moment."

Shisui lay Itachi down on the bed, feeling hot himself from his fever. Akane was quick to make her appearance with cold water and a towel, and they tucked him in. "I have to go buy some ingredients for his medicine," she said. "Keep that towel cold."

"I'll go, if that's alright with you. I need to clear my head."

"Fine, then. I'll make you a list of what I need."

* * *

Akane was beginning to wonder if Shisui would ever return by the time he knocked at the front door. He was carrying more bags than would have been necessary for everything she had put on the list, and as he took them to the kitchen, she sensed the smell of cooked food coming from one of them.

"I didn't know what you liked, so I got us some stir-fry. It seemed like the safest option," Shisui said with an apologetic smile as he lined the boxes on the table. "Can't work on an empty stomach," he added as an afterthought.

"Or a clear mind?" she asked as she saw him pull out a whole pack of beer cans from one bag.

"Yeah, those are for me," he said in a strange tone. "You're welcome to have some, if you feel like it, of course."

A shadow crossed his face, quickly dispelled by a smile, but it had been there nonetheless. Akane said nothing of it, and instead started putting together the ingredients from the list. Making the medicine from scratch would take time, and she wanted to begin as soon as possible. Armed with a pestle and mortar, as well as a set of scales, she threw herself into her work almost as eagerly as Shisui chugged from his first beer.

"The food's getting cold," he said after a while, though he did not seem inclined to eat himself.

"That towel's getting warm," she replied. "Would you go change it for me, please?" Her eyes were on to him, making note of his hesitation and reluctance as he stood up from the chair and padded towards the bedroom.

Shisui stopped when he entered the room, gritting his teeth against the painful twinge his heart gave. He forced himself to approach the bed, and his hands trembled as he dipped the towel in cold water before placing it back on Itachi's burning forehead. _I'm sorry_. He could not do this. He fought down the sinking feeling in his stomach as he strode out of the room and back into the kitchen, downing the rest of his beer like it was water.

"You'd be a terrible nurse," Akane said, her tone not as much unkind as matter-of-fact. Her critique was not undeserved after his earlier comment, so he said nothing. She did not raise her eyes from the round, white seeds she was currently grinding to a powder. "So, who died on your watch?" she asked.

The question flew into the gaping wound in his heart like a dart, spot on. Shisui stared up at her, wondering how she had known, but she did not meet his gaze. "My father," he said, eventually, opening another can. "He died from sepsis, from a war wound that never healed." There were still nights when he would wake up to that smell. The memory of it made his stomach turn as much as the guilt.

She did not offer her condolences and he was grateful for it. He had never been able to stomach those two words, and there was nothing quite like a houseful of strangers spouting them to make them lose their meaning in the aftermath of someone's death. For a long time, the only sound in the kitchen was the pestle grinding ingredients against the mortar.

"I was trained in the hospital," Akane said, making Shisui raise his gaze to her from the beer can. "I was sixteen and thought I could move mountains. The patient was a young man, with a heart defect. Father of two. The surgery went well, Tsunade-sama herself oversaw it. Two days later, his body rejected the transplant." Her voice wavered. "I couldn't stop it."

He stared at her, not knowing what to say.

"The prognosis was good. I'd told his wife he would be alright. I'd laughed with him just two hours before… but bad things happen to good people for no reason." She scoffed. "My betters would disagree, but at least in the field, I know what to expect."

Her hand reached out for the gash on his cheek, which he had at least managed to clean. Healing chakra seeped into it, numbing the pain and sealing the wound shut in matter of seconds. "I don't negotiate with death. We don't speak the same language, so I don't need words for that. I either stop it, or I don't. That's all there is to it."


	19. Darkly Dreaming

**Chapter 19 – Darkly Dreaming**

_What is life? _

Pain.

His sharingan bright red, like the blood which had awakened it. Like the blood that fed it, like the chakra that sustained it. Red within and without, as if his entire being were a wound that would not close.

"Itachi."

_Akane_. Even her name was red.

His eyelids fluttered open at the sound of her voice, but the light was too bright, the pain it brought, too much. He slipped back into the shadows of his heart, curling in against himself. Back to sleep. Back into nothingness.

* * *

_Still burning up._ Akane pulled her hand back. She dipped the towel in iced water and wrung out the excess before placing it back on his forehead. Chakra surged into her hands, gently glowing against his abdomen, where a hematoma was forming. She delved into the tissue, breaking down the coagulated blood to speed up its reabsorption and repairing the damaged blood vessels. If only all hurts were this easy to treat.

"Just how powerful was that _genjutsu_?" she asked as she walked into the kitchen, where Shisui was unenthusiastically picking at his stir-fry.

His eyes darted to the clock ticking on the wall. It was late in the afternoon, and Konoha was already suffused in darkness. "It should have worn off by now." Had he overestimated Itachi and made the _genjutsu_ too powerful for fear he would fight it? Possibly. He was a user of illusionary techniques himself. If he had been well, he would have countered it without blinking an eye. Still, Shisui could not help but wonder. "Why does it matter? You said he needed rest."

"A _genjutsu_-induced sleep is more like a forceful coma. I wouldn't call that restful."

"I've never thought about it like that," he said, pushing aside a green bean. _How badly did I fuck up?_ And to think he had once considered knocking Itachi out the same way during his last bout of insomnia. "Is he going to be alright?"

Akane appeared to be done grinding things to dust and was now measuring and mixing. The whole kitchen smelled of herbs, and it was so pungent it made him sneeze every now and again. "The fever will break once he takes this," she said. "It should also help with the pain."

"You can't do anything about that?"

He was not remarking on her abilities or lack thereof this time, she noted. Shisui seemed genuinely surprised, beyond his understandable concern. "I'm not a miracle worker," she said, a hint of regret slipping into her voice. "It's either fight the cause of the pain or infuse chakra continually to numb it. With the underlying cause being infection, I need medicine to counter that before I can start repairing the damage it's done."

Shisui said nothing. His own experience in the medical field did not extend beyond cleaning a wound, the occasional stitch, and using bandages. Maybe he could stop a moderate bleeding, if it came down to it. For the first time, however, it struck him as pitiful that he knew a thousand ways to kill someone and not one means to keep death at bay. _We are only as strong as our weakest point,_ he thought dejectedly.

* * *

_What is a shinobi?_

The sky above him was red, with black clouds. They swirled to form the _kanji_ across the heavens, and he could feel its imprint burning against his soul, etched in pain and blood. A blade upon the heart. Hard-hearted. One who endures.

_I can't. _

A silhouette formed in the distance, born of the shadows at the edge of his mind. A man, swathed in a black cloak with red clouds. His instincts screamed and he lunged towards the figure, but when it turned around to face him, it was not Suisen's face he saw.

_Aniki._

The blood curdled in his veins at the sight of his little brother. Older, harder, colder. Darker. Red eyes staring at him, staring into his soul, yet still blind to the pain tearing him apart from the inside out.

His heart screamed. _Why can't you see?_

Sasuke's face remained impassive. His lips did not move, but his voice echoed across the empty space. _You won't let me. _

Dead bodies littered the ground around him, all staring at Itachi with cold, glazed eyes. Unseeing. Unfeeling. Their mouths were open in a silent scream, the Konoha plate on their _hitai-ate_ stained with blood. Their fingers pointed to their killer.

_What have you done, Sasuke?_

Itachi's gaze fell upon the sword thrust into the ground between them. A thread of blood trickled down along the edge, glinting in the eerie light. His hands suddenly felt clammy and slick. He looked at them and the blood was all over them, too, warm and thick.

_No. No. No, no, no…_

Sasuke was down on the ground now, eyes closed. Itachi threw himself beside him, cradling his lifeless form in his arms. Pain exploded within him and roared across the sky. When he cried, even his tears were blood. The scream that tore from his throat seemed to go on forever.

_What have I done?_

* * *

"Maybe we should wake him," Shisui said, his eyes darting to the clock again. He was cradling his last beer, having lined up the empty cans on the table, to his left. His eyelids were heavy with sleep and it was a becoming a struggle to keep them open.

Akane tapped a finger against her cup of tea, deep in thought. She looked at the distilling concoction in a jar to her left, the result of so many hours of work. Itachi's heart rate had been high all day, which was little wonder given his fever, but it was the occasional spikes in it that worried her. Those had grown more frequent by the hour. Whatever dreams his fevered mind was tormenting him with, she hoped he would forget upon waking. "Just a little longer," she said.

Shisui pursed his lips. She had at least spared him from his nursing duties after that first time, taking it upon herself to check in on Itachi every half an hour without so much as batting an eyelash. The sight of suffering that made his stomach turn did not seem to affect her. Even now, her face betrayed no concern, only weariness. "I don't know how you do it," he said.

"Someone has to."

Such a simple, dismissive answer. Shisui did not buy it for a moment. He remembered once telling Itachi that he and Akane were alike, but he had never known how much until now. Such well-guarded hearts, and so ill-adapted, deflecting feelings like they were _shuriken_ and bottling themselves up to the brim, until they ended up exploding like the fireworks at the _Tanabata _festival. No wonder they found solace in each other. He could not stop himself from chortling.

"We'll see how funny you find things in the morning, after all that beer," she said, seemingly taking his reaction as an affront. "I won't deal with your hangover."

"Sorry, sorry," Shisui said, wiping a tear from the corner of his eye. "I just remembered something."

Akane peered at him, nonplussed. "You're a strange fellow, Shisui-san. _Maa, _at least drink some water in between beers. Believe me, the extra trips to the toilet will be worth it."

He was about to thank her for the tip when a strange sound interrupted him. He thought it might have been a meow. Akane stood up and went to the door leading to the back porch, sliding it open. Shisui brightened up at the sight of the white shadow slipping in. "Kirara!" he said, jumping from his chair. "I was wondering where you were!"

"And hello, Kirara's… friend," Akane said disapprovingly, hunching down.

Shisui picked up the white cat and peered curiously over Akane's shoulder. A small bat lay still on the porch, leathery wings sprawled open at odd angles. "Kirara, how sweet, you brought mommy a present!" he said, rubbing her belly, glad for a reason to take his mind off things. "Good job! You're secretly a cunning _ninneko,_ aren't you?"

"Really now," Akane sighed, "ninja cat or no, I keep trying to convince her no one likes dead things around the house as a gift."

"Who's a thoughtful kitty? Don't listen to her, mommy just doesn't know how to appreciate your efforts," Shisui told the cat, nuzzling her, but Kirara promptly kicked out with a paw at his face and jumped down from his arms, padding hurriedly out of the kitchen. "Damn it."

"I told you she doesn't like to be picked up."

"I'll have better luck charming her next time," Shisui said, slumping back in his chair.

* * *

_Exceptional. Gifted. Prodigy._

The pain in his heart and the blood on his hands. Sasuke's ice-cold forehead against his, the silence in his chest and the stillness of his limbs. What did it all mean? What did it all amount to? Was death the only thing his talent could bring into the world?

The blackened fields, endless around them, began to crumble. Pieces of them broke off, floating into the sky like ashes. Itachi choked on them. His grip on Sasuke tightened as his world fell apart, swallowed by the red sky with its black clouds.

_Let it swallow us both. If you die, I die with you._

Itachi closed his eyes, wanting to see nothing more. The rumbling sound of the destruction was coming closer, faster. He could feel himself floating up, and still, he would not let go. But Sasuke's body crumbled in his arms, dissolving and dispersing.

Just like everything else.

* * *

There was a dim light behind his eyelids. At first, he thought himself still floating, but his body soon registered the stillness of whatever nightmarish world he was in now. There was a heaviness in his chest, making it hard for him to breathe. The effort it took to counter that weakened him, not that he did not already feel well beyond spent. He next picked up a strange, humming sound in his vicinity. It seemed familiar, but it took his mind a few moments to place it.

_Purring?_

Itachi opened his eyes. There was a cat sitting on his chest. _Kirara_, he realized. She opened her amber eyes and leaned in to bump her cold, wet nose against his in her usual greeting to him. A kitty kiss. Itachi's lip twitched into a smile, but it did not last. Right now, she seemed to weigh down on him like a sack of potatoes. "Kirara, I can't breathe," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

A shiver ran through him. Itachi removed the wet cloth from his forehead and sat up slowly, prompting Kirara to jump off, much to his relief. He recognized Akane's bedroom, but could not remember how he had gotten here for the life of him. Or why every bit of his flesh hurt, like he had been trampled over by a horde of angry bulls. He tried to focus, but the last thing he remembered was no more than a jumble of fractured images and metal against metal sounds. It drained him to sift through them at the moment, so he channeled his strength into getting up instead. He could hear low voices coming from somewhere in the house, and he shuffled towards the sound.

The light in the kitchen was jarringly bright, and he blinked a few times until his vision accommodated. Shisui and Akane were sitting at the table, staring at him as if he were an apparition. "Hey," he said, uncertainly.

Shisui's mouth opened and closed, adding to his confusion. It was a rare thing to see him speechless. It was Akane who stood up and strode towards him. For a moment he thought she looked about to spread out her arms and pull him into a hug, but only one hand reached out, and the back of it settled on his cheek for a brief moment.

"Come sit," she said quickly. "I'll get you a blanket."

Another shiver coursed through him. She had checked for a fever, he realized. No wonder he was feeling so weak. His legs managed to carry him over to the table and relief washed over him as the chair took his weight. He looked at Shisui, whose face bore the same, strange expression at the sight of him. His brows knitted in concern. "Are you alright, Shisui?" he asked.

At that, his cousin gave a quick, nervous laugh. "You're the one to ask? You gave us quite the scare, you know."

"I did?"

"You don't remember? We were sparring."

The same clinking sound of metal on metal echoed in his mind. A brief flash of multiple Shisuis across his line of sight. The bright light and roar of a fireball. Then…

His hand went to his abdomen, but there was no pain there. Was that memory not real?

"I took care of that," Akane said as a weight settled on his back and shoulders.

Itachi pulled the blanket around him, feeling his muscles contract in another shudder. "I'm sick." The words had come out somewhere between a statement and a question. Shisui looked down into what appeared to be a beer can, and it was Akane who reacted. Again.

"You have an infection in your lungs," she said, whisking at some odd-colored liquid in a jar. "It's perfectly treatable, as long as you take your medicine and cut yourself some slack. That means bed rest for a few days and no training or missions anytime soon."

The last time he remembered being sick enough to be forced into a break he had been around six years old. Mikoto had nursed him back to health after a bout of pneumonia, and it had taken him a week to recover. She had not let him train for another two weeks afterwards, and Itachi recalled how disappointed his father had seemed at the news. But the memory was not an unpleasant one. During those two weeks of recovery, he had spent more time with his baby brother than during the rest of that year combined. The image of a toddling, gurgling Sasuke reaching out for him around the house made him smile.

_If you die, I die with you._

The smile faded from his lips. Itachi looked up and realized his friends were waiting for his reaction. "Well, I feel tired enough to sleep for a whole year," he admitted half-heartedly.

"Then you can get right back to it," Akane said. "After you drink this."

Itachi quirked a brow at the proffered cup of questionably smelling liquid. It was the same, odd-colored something she had been stirring up earlier, he realized. Medicine. How long had he been asleep for, that she had had the time to prepare it? His eyes flew to the clock on the wall to his left and widened. It was a little past midnight.

Shisui picked up on his panic. "It's alright, I'll drop by your place tomorrow to let Mikoto-san you were with me, binge watching movies all night."

A knot settled in his throat. He took a sip from the cup and scowled. It was bitter as bile, and slightly viscous, too. It did not go down easily, but he forced it to stay there, nonetheless. "Thanks. We had a bit of an… argument this morning, before I left," he said. That much, he remembered clearly. More so than he would have liked.

Shisui's mirth took a dip at the news, only to resurface a moment later. "Well then, it's good that we brought you here, instead."

"Sorry to impose, Akane."

"It's no trouble. Someone should look after you, at least until your fever breaks."

Shisui looked at her. "I thought you said it would, if he takes the medicine."

"And it will, for good, eventually. But I expect it to recur for at least another couple of days. Really now, Shisui-san, it's like you expect me to snap my fingers at every turn to fix it. These things take time."

"Then don't make it look so easy," he said, rubbing his right cheek.

Shisui's face flashed in Itachi's mind, half-covered in blood from a wicked gash. _Did I do that?_ His head began to throb. He took another swig of what he was growing certain was pure bile, willing himself not to gag on it. Even with the blanket around him, a chill was creeping into him inch by inch. The occasional shudder progressed to a persistent tremor. His eyelids were getting leaden, too, and it occurred to him that he might fall asleep with his head on the table (again) before he would get to finish taking his treatment.

But it was his last coherent thought before his head swam with a sudden bout of dizziness and his mind became a jumble. Dreams and memories collided, pieces of them forming fractals across his mindscape.

Mikoto's tears. _I promise I'll fix it_.

Sasuke's glare. _I hate you._

Hiashi's question. _What would you do if you were in my place? _

Sasuke, dead in his arms, slain by his own hand. His whole being recoiled at the thought, shuddering with revulsion, but all he could see was the blood, bright red against his little brother's pale face. All he could feel was the cold, wrapping its icy fingers around him, body and soul.

"He didn't finish that," Shisui noted, promptly stopping Itachi's fall from the chair before sweeping him up in his arms like he weighed nothing. He was shivering inside the blanket, however, straining against his grip.

"It's still more than half the dose. It will have to do, for now," Akane said. "Put him back to bed and get some sleep yourself. I'll clean up here."

Shisui winced. "Can I have the couch, please?"

Akane quirked a brow at him. "You're too tall for it." She saw him hesitate, and in that moment his expression looked almost as pained as Itachi's. Her voice softened at the sight. "His fever will go down soon, you don't have to worry." Something twisted in her, but she fought it down. Shisui remained unconvinced. He needed to hear it, she realized, needed that reassurance. She was not sixteen anymore, either. No longer a medic in training. It still hurt to rip those words out of her throat, nonetheless. "He'll be alright, Shisui-san... I promise."

He accepted them with a nod of his head before turning away and slowly making his way to the bedroom. Akane watched him go, then sank into a chair. She stared into space, leaning her forehead into one hand. Her hair fell around her face, shielding it from the light. Quietly, she reached into a drawer, pulled out a cigarette from the pack and lit it, watching the smoke curl in the air towards the ceiling through the blur of tears.

Shisui unwrapped Itachi from the blanket and gently slid him under the covers. He then circled around the bed, biting his lip, to join him. Itachi stirred as the mattress dipped and he inched towards him. His shudders were making the whole bed shake and Shisui fought against the sinking feeling in his stomach to wrap his arms around him, pulling Itachi closer to warm him up. Not that he needed it, really, but fever was strange like that.

"You smell like a brewery," Itachi murmured through chattering teeth.

Shisui could not withhold a nervous chuckle. "And you smell like medicine. Don't tell me you pretended to fall asleep just to get out of finishing it."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

Itachi's jest eased his nerves somewhat. Whatever remained of them was for a different reason altogether.

* * *

Juri opened her eyes to the grey light, sick of the sound of rain. Barely in Amegakure for two days and already its constant patter against the window was getting on her nerves. Even the air here, laden with humidity, stirred rage within her. But Kirigakure was miles away now, the damp, accursed trash heap. She had no home. She was free. _More or less,_ she thought, looking at the discarded Akatsuki cloak on the floor, by the bed. Then her eyes drifted to the silhouette standing by the window.

"Get dressed," Suisen said, without even looking at her. "We have been summoned."

So, that was what had woken her up. The Leader's summons, creeping, crawling in her skull. She had not heard the words, but the sensation had surely been there, now that she thought about it. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, Juri picked up her clothes and started putting them on, all the while glancing at her partner. Everything from his tense stance to his damn, stony face spoke of him having one of those days. A pity, really, after last night's debauchery.

They treaded through the dark corridors, lined with pipes and cables, deep within the tallest tower in Ame. They had only been here once before in the two years since she had joined the Akatsuki, and Juri still preferred the rundown hideouts scattered through the wilderness across all countries. This place was too constricting for her taste, everything narrow, and grey and fucking _damp_.

After minutes dragged on navigating the labyrinthine halls with their narrow staircases, Suisen finally pushed a door open. Juri followed him inside a large, circular chamber. Three people were inside, much to her surprise. She had only expected the Leader and Konan to be here. After all, it was a rare occurrence for even two Akatsuki teams to meet face to face. However, even though he could no longer be considered a team by himself, Sasori was here too, and it was not a projection. The last time she had seen the Suna-nin had been months ago, when the Leader had summoned everyone to a conference in the aftermath of Orochimaru's betrayal. Were they finally heading out to recruit him a teammate?

"Good, you're here," the Leader said, turning his attention to them. His _rinnegan _fixed them, and Juri shifted under his scrutiny, before his eyes moved to Suisen. "I have a number of missions for you two," he continued. "You're going back to the Land of Fire."

"Back?" Juri could not stop herself from blurting out. "I thought we were supposed to steer clear of it after-" But the _rinnegan _was back onto her and she fell quiet, even as she seethed. These fucking _dojutsu_ users, she thought, thinking themselves better than everyone else who did not possess a bloodline limit.

"The Land of Fire spans a wide territory. We cannot afford to refuse missions within it any longer," the Leader said. "If you encounter opposition, I expect you to deal with it."

Juri was about to open her mouth again when she noticed Suisen's eyes narrowing dangerously. "The ANBU team both our team and Sasori's encountered now has two Uchihas," he said. "Their trickery made a fool of a legendary _Sannin_ and Sasori both. You expect us to deal with that without backup?"

Sasori's tail slid out from underneath the Akatsuki robe and whizzed through the air faster than Juri could see. All she caught was a spark and the metallic clang as its sharp tip stopped a mere inch from Suisen's face, pressing against the side of his _kunai_. "You insolent brat," Sasori growled.

"Enough," the Leader said. "You will not argue among yourselves and you will not argue against orders."

"I didn't take you for a coward, Konoha scum," Sasori said, hurling the slight even as his tail retracted into the folds of his cloak.

"I'm not the one hiding, am I?" Suisen snapped back at him.

"Silence, both of you." The Leader's voice had taken on a dangerous note, and it had the desired effect, for the time being. "Take your orders and go. I will hear no more of this, Suisen, unless you wish to follow in Orochimaru's footsteps."

At his words, butterfly-shaped _origami_ fluttered through the air towards them and Juri held out her hand to take the scroll they formed. She followed a quiet Suisen outside, not daring to open their list of missions before his mood improved. Still, she could not help but wonder.

"Why get so worked up over this? I thought you didn't mind killing your countrymen," Juri said as they were leaving the tower. She had always found it ironic that they had both become missing-nin by first murdering their countrymen before defecting, however different their circumstances may have been. She had slain Kiri-nin and civilians she could have cared less about, while he had killed his ANBU team and made it look like someone else's doing.

"Is bloodlust the only thing in that pretty little head of yours?" he asked in a deceptively calm voice. Right now, his anger was not directed at her. "It was no coincidence that same team ran into Sasori and Orochimaru after us. They were assigned to deal with anyone wearing these cloaks. They have a skilled tracker with them, an Inuzuka. After what happened with Orochimaru, the moment we cross the border, Konoha will know. That ANBU team will find us."

"So, we take them out, or die trying," she said, starting to understand the exact extent of the steaming shit pile the Leader was pushing them into. He would use Suisen's knowledge, as the Akatsuki's one remaining former Konoha-nin, to eliminate the threat that particular taskforce posed to their organization's movements. Even if she and Suisen ended up failing in this task, the Akatsuki still had to gain, as they were bound to at least take some of the bastards down with them, crippling that ANBU team and buying them time.

Juri scoffed, a wicked smirk curling her lips as she placed her hands on her hips. "Let's at least show them a good time."

Suisen gave her a pointed look. She really did have nothing but bloodlust on her mind.

**The name "Akane" means "bright red". I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. This story started out as something I was jotting down in a bout of escapism, following the onset of seasonal depression. I never expected it to become so fleshed out, or to gain this much attention. I'm glad for each and every one of you who decided to stick around. ****Although I probably don't thank you all enough for your support, know that your words always bring a smile to my lips.****  
**


	20. The Cursed Seal of Heaven

**Chapter 20 – The Cursed Seal of Heaven**

"_Mahjong_ again?" Shisui asked, making a face at the box in Tsume's arms. "Why is it that every time we gather at my place, we don't play what _I_ like?"

Tenzo was right behind her, carrying a couple of voluminous bags, which Shisui suspected were filled with snacks, judging by the sound they were making. He stepped aside to allow the two of them in, ignoring the tongue Tsume stuck out at him in response. Sometimes even he felt older than her. They then walked into the living room, where Itachi and Akane were already seated at the low coffee table.

"See, I told you he was alive," Tsume said to Tenzo before turning to Itachi with a bright grin on her face. "Captain! Finally! These two have been keeping you all to themselves! How are you feeling?"

Itachi smiled. "Much better, thank you."

Tsume dropped the board game on the table and plopped down to his right, crossing her legs. "That's great to hear. This rowdy bunch is giving me a hard time in training," she said, mock-whispering to him. "So, are you coming back to spare me the headaches anytime soon?"

"Over my dead body," Akane said, from across the table. "It's only been six days."

"You lot made it seem like six years!"

"That's only because the crazy formations you come up with are in no way applicable," Tenzo interjected, sitting down across from Itachi. "No wonder you never win at _shogi_."

"See?" she asked Itachi. "Mutiny."

"_Hai, hai,_ that's plenty of headache for everyone here," Shisui said, bringing a tray of glasses for the drinks. It appeared Tenzo had done the shopping this time, since there was no alcohol to be found in the bags. "I'm sure Itachi will find all there is to know about our attempts at a 'charred wood-style' _jutsu_ in the daily activity reports. You have been filing those, haven't you, Tsume-san?"

She was quick to change the subject at the sound of that, which was just what he had been aiming for. Tsume was a brilliant tracker and quite good at improvising when caught in a pinch, however, her organizational skills left a lot to be desired. Tenzo would have been his personal choice for second-in-command, but he was not going to question Itachi's decisions. So, he had taken it upon himself to secretly file those papers for Tsume, choosing to blame her negligence on motherly worries. Her son was, after all, participating in the _chuunin_ exam. That did not mean he would spare her from the teasing anytime soon, however.

"Have you heard?" Tsume asked, shuffling the _mahjong_ tiles. "A border patrol went missing a couple of days ago. Not a word, not a trace."

"People don't just vanish into thin air," Tenzo commented. "I'm sure they'll find them soon enough." _Alive or dead, _he thought, without sharing that particular continuation for fear it would ruin the mood.

"Sitting out again, Shisui-san?" Akane asked, noticing he had taken a seat on the couch instead. "You really hate _mahjong_, don't you?"

Shisui smirked and shrugged. "I'll just sit here and quietly judge your every move."

Itachi peered at him from the corner of his eyes. He had never learned the fine art of deflecting uncomfortable questions with humor, but Shisui had mastered it. The truth was that his cousin could barely see the symbols painted on the small _mahjong_ pieces anymore. It had taken more goading than he would have liked to admit to get that confession out of him.

"How much longer do you think it will take?" Tsume asked after a while, as they settled into the first game of the night. She sounded uncharacteristically subdued. "It's been a week, now."

"It can't be much longer," Akane said. "It's unusual, but I suppose it was to be expected. I heard too many teams passed, even though Morino-san was the proctor for the first stage."

Shisui laughed. "I wish I could have seen Anko's face when she found out."

Ibiki Morino. That man had a finger in one too many pies for Itachi's liking. And then there was Anko Mitarashi, 'that firecracker of a special _jounin_', as Shisui usually described his former Academy classmate. The cards had not been dealt in the favor of this year's selection of _genin_, truly, yet he found himself being more worried about Tsume's son and Akane's cousin than his own little brother. There was no doubt in his mind that Sasuke could survive training ground 44, or as Konoha had so fondly dubbed it, the Forest of Death.

"Does anyone else hear barking?" Tsume said, putting a halt to Itachi's train of thought.

Shisui was off the couch and striding towards the front door the next instant, proof that he could hear it, too. Itachi tensed, his mind torn from thoughts of both _mahjong_ game and _chuunin_ exam. He stood up and rushed after Shisui, more certain by the moment that he had recognized not just any barking, but a particular _ninken's._

His instinct turned out to have been right when he walked into the hallway and saw the small pug padding inside. "Pakkun," Itachi said, feeling his heart skip a beat. If Kakashi had sent him, something was not right. The name drew the attention of the rest of team Yon, and the small corridor instantly filled with more people than it could comfortably fit.

"Finally! To think I had to resort to _barking_, of all things," Pakkun said, his gaze darting between all the pairs of eyes fixed on him before settling on Itachi. "Kakashi sent me for you, Itachi. He's at the hospital, waiting for you." No sooner had the _ninken_ finished speaking than Itachi was pulling on his sandals.

"What about my Kiba?" Tsume said, pushing herself forward.

"So many of you here, in one place," Pakkun said, although he did not seem particularly impressed. "Well, I suppose that makes things easier for me." His eyes once more darted from face to face. "Kiba and Shikamaru are both at the hospital, too."

The little _ninken_ was not exactly forthcoming with the details, Shisui noted, but his words stirred quite the commotion nonetheless. One by one, they filed out of the house and into the chill, autumn air. The evening was quite cold. By the time he locked the door behind him, he and Pakkun were the last ones remaining. "Are they alright?" he asked.

"More or less," Pakkun said, unhelpfully.

* * *

Itachi was the first to burst through Konoha hospital's front doors, closing the distance between him and Kakashi in no more than a few strides across the bustling lobby. From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Shikamaru sitting on a gurney. He was conscious, appeared moderately unharmed, and in any case, Akane rushed over to him a mere moment later. He turned his full attention to the grey-haired _jounin_ standing before him.

"How's Sasuke?" he asked.

"Easy now," Kakashi said. "I don't think I've ever seen you quite so breathless, Itachi."

"Never mind that." He was not about to acknowledge the constricting sensation in his chest after running over to the hospital all the way from the Uchiha district, when he had been so starved for news on Sasuke. Maybe part of him had worried more than he liked to admit, even to himself.

"Follow me, then," Kakashi said. "This is not the right place for this conversation."

Itachi fought down the sinking feeling in his stomach and did as his former mentor said. His mind shut out Akane's name being called out by the nurses running past them as they walked out of the lobby.

"So?" he asked the moment he deemed themselves out of earshot. The hallway was clear. The only _chakra _signatures he could sense were at the far end.

Kakashi came to a halt, prompting Itachi to stop, as well. The next words that came out of his mouth sounded like they were coming from a bad dream. "Orochimaru branded Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, sometime during the second stage of the exam. He somehow managed to infiltrate, but-"

Itachi's head turned to the right almost as quickly as Kakashi's, their honed instincts picking up on the shift in the air almost as soon as it had occurred. His muscles were quick to respond to the impromptu demand and Itachi sprang along the hallway, honing in on the one familiar _chakra_ signature remaining: Sasuke's. There was no more time for Kakashi to explain things to him. _Orochimaru_. The image of a pair of snakelike, golden eyes, widening up in wanton hunger at the sight of him came to his mind, and nothing else mattered.

But it was not Orochimaru standing at Sasuke's bedside, surrounded by eight murdered ANBU. Itachi barely registered anything other than the unfamiliar face of the young man standing over his little brother, brandishing a scalpelaimed for his throat. His _sharingan _had activated without a conscious thought, and his body responded to its input without a moment's delay. He threw a _kunai_, which hit the edge of the scalpel, knocking it out of the hand that was holding it. The next instant, Itachi flashed between Sasuke and his would-be killer, delivering a swift kick into the latter's stomach.

Kakashi burst in through the door and had to skip over a dead body, just as Sasuke's attacker was getting up from the floor, supporting himself with one hand against the wall he had been sent flying into.

"Very nice, Itachi-san. I suppose it was to be expected of you," the stranger said, readjusting his round glasses with one hand. Although he was averting his eyes from Itachi's _sharingan_, he was seemingly unfazed by the fact that he was now facing two _jounin_. He had, after all, just killed eight ANBU.

"You're not just a regular _genin_, are you?" Kakashi asked. "Kabuto Yakushi, was it? Raised by Konoha's medical squad leader. Are you connected with Orochimaru?"

Itachi watched the two, trying to wrap his head around what was going on. He had too little information to piece together at the moment, but all that mattered was that he had stopped the attempt on Sasuke's life. This Kabuto person, whoever he was, would not get a second chance. Kakashi could fill him in on the rest later, after they apprehended him. Connected to Orochimaru or not, he had made an attempt on the life of a fellow Konoha _shinobi_. Ibiki would make quick work of him.

Kabuto, however, was smirking rather boldly at Kakashi's question. How much confidence did he have in his abilities? Whatever the answer to that was, Itachi was not about to take his chances with an unknown factor. His hand reached into weapon pouch strapped to his leg and pulled out another _kunai._

"If you take me in, you'll never be able to prove anything," Kabuto said. "But let me go now, and you might get an answer to your question… eventually."

"Do you take me for a fool?" Kakashi said, shifting his stance as he brandished a weapon of his own.

Itachi picked up the sound of rapid footsteps coming down the corridor. A moment later, Shisui burst in, _sharingan _blazing and _kunai_ drawn, setting himself beside Itachi; another wall raised between Sasuke and his attacker.

Kabuto's smirk turned into a scowl. "Go after one Uchiha, and they all come out like cockroaches," he commented. He had meant to finish his business here before word got out that Sasuke had been brought back, but his odds of success were dwindling more rapidly than he had anticipated. _Well, then…_

His curved _kunai_ hit the floor with a loud clang, and Kabuto raised his hands. Kakashi made a move to grab him, his whole body still tense and ready to counter any sort of foul play. Itachi's eyes narrowed, catching something unusual at the edge of his field of vision. Shisui was faster to react, however, moving to block the exit as the ANBU corpse closest to the door stood up and made a run for it.

Itachi planted his feet firmly into the floor, his eyes wary of the remaining corpses. He would not leave Sasuke's side.

Kabuto, however, appeared to have abandoned the idea of harming anyone at the moment. Another corpse stood up, breaking the window with _kunai_ before jumping through it to vanish into the night. Shisui pushed aside the fake Kabuto, dashed across the room and jumped onto the window sill, ready to engage in his pursuit when Kakashi's voice stopped him.

"Wait, Shisui," he said. "You're ill-equipped to deal with this right now."

Shisui threw a look over his shoulder at the older _jounin_, who was laying down the fake Kabuto he had apprehended. True enough, he had nothing but the handful of weapons in his pouch, not even his _tanto,_ and he knew next to nothing about the enemy, not to mention he would be heading out alone. He hesitated, then allowed his _sharingan_ to fade and the world became a blur once more. "You sure know how to burst someone's bubble, Kakashi-san," he said, hopping down from the sill. He looked at the bodies strewn across the floor. "_Maa_, look at this mess. How unfortunate for Taro-san's squad."

Kakashi sighed. "I didn't think for a moment anyone would be capable of taking down eight seasoned ANBU. Least of all this guy."

Itachi looked down at Sasuke. He was unconscious, and connected to a breathing machine, as well as a great number of tubes and wires, but the beeping from the monitor sounded steady enough to him. Whatever feelings stirred within him at the sight, he had more pressing matters to deal with than his emotions. He turned his attention to Kakashi. "What happened?" he demanded. "Start from the beginning."

Kakashi obliged. "Somehow, Orochimaru managed to infiltrate the _chuunin_ exams, supposedly posing as a Kusagakure _genin_. Anko is still investigating that. They found the bodies shortly after the second stage began."

He went on talking for minutes on end, retelling the events as best he could, though he himself did not know all the details. Itachi and Shisui listened without interrupting. Orochimaru branding Sasuke with the Cursed Seal of Heaven, sometime during the second stage. The preliminary exams. Sasuke's match against Yoroi, and his successful control of the seal's flare up.

"I managed to suppress it using the Evil Sealing Method, but whether it activates or not from now on depends on Sasuke alone. That's when Orochimaru showed up. Itachi, I'm sure you understand what he's after," Kakashi finished.

He noticed a brief look pass between the two Uchihas before Itachi replied. "Yes. I do."

Itachi's eyes came to rest on Sasuke's face once more. Orochimaru had taken his chances with him and Shisui, not so long ago, only to realize he had bitten more than he could chew. He had set his sights on easier prey, instead. Shisui's words in the aftermath of their confrontation with the _Sannin_ came to mind. _They will always hunt our kind. _Sasuke was young, a blank canvas, easy to dye into any color. He was not ready to deal with this.

"I have to report this to Hokage-sama," Kakashi said. "I'll get someone to deal with the bodies and move Sasuke someplace more secure."

"I'm staying with him," Itachi said, turning away.

Shisui nodded at Kakashi in acknowledgement, before the older _jounin_ took his leave. He would stay, as well. The night promised to be a long one, and it had barely even begun. "Back to blaming yourself, Itachi?" he asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Itachi did not reply. "You couldn't have known," Shisui insisted. "And even if you had, there was nothing you could have done."

"I would have done anything," Itachi argued softly. "Anything within my power."

"Anko has the same seal. She is able to control it, has been doing so for years. Maybe I can convince her to teach Sasuke a thing or two about not tapping into its power."

_I'll _make_ you see me._

Power. It was what Orochimaru promised Sasuke. What he had offered him through that cursed seal was just enough to whet his appetite. His little brother would not find it easy to resist its temptation. The seal would corrode his already troubled mind like poison, more and more each time he gave in. Itachi could not allow that to happen. _I have to fix this. No matter what, I have to fix it._

* * *

"I figured you'd be here all night."

Itachi stirred at the sound of Akane's voice. His body was mostly numb after spending so many hours sitting in a chair by Sasuke's bed. Shisui was dozing off in the more comfortable one, by the window. He looked up at her, registering the smell of coffee just as she was holding out a cup to him.

"Thanks," he said. It occurred to him that she looked as tired as him, and was wearing a white coat over her civilian clothes. "You stayed?"

She placed a second cup of coffee on the window sill. "I had to. The hospital is understaffed, and it becomes painfully obvious whenever something of this magnitude occurs. So, here I am, doing morning rounds," she said, picking up Sasuke's file.

"I knew there were few of you in the field, but at the hospital, too?" he asked.

"The Council claims Konoha doesn't have enough money to fund an official medical training program, although rumor has it an insane amount of funds are going into Danzo-sama's Root training subdivision."

Danzo had once tried to recruit Itachi into the Foundation, shortly before he had been promoted to captain. He remembered the man as not one who particularly inspired trust, which was part of the reason he had steered clear of his Root ANBU branch and any further dealings with him. Given that Danzo was on the Council, it was not entirely farfetched to suppose at least some of those funds were being redirected to his project. External affairs were a costly thing for hidden villages, and a network of spies was of topmost importance, that much he agreed with, but to cut from other important domains to sustain it was just not right.

"Sasuke-kun's vitals look good."

Itachi looked at his little brother. His breathing had been erratic and labored throughout the night, but towards the morning it had quieted down. Right now, he looked as if he were peacefully sleeping.

"He should be waking up soon," Akane said, putting down Sasuke's chart.

She directed healing chakra into her hands and placed them on his chest for a few moments, before taking off the oxygen mask from Sasuke's face and stopping the monitoring equipment. With its beeping gone, the room became almost too quiet.

"The hospital announced the families this morning," she added, tactfully letting him know he should expect his parents to show up within the hour. This time, he did not doubt Fugaku would come see Sasuke. Not even he could be so callous.

"How are Shikamaru and Kiba?" he asked, sipping from his coffee.

"My cousin got off easily, just scrapes and bruises for the most part. Some lingering dizziness and a headache from being on the receiving end of a sound _jutsu_, but he walked out of the hospital on his own two feet this morning. As for Kiba-kun, he got a bit roughed up, so they'll be holding him for a few days. Hana is looking after his pup."

"How did Tsume take it?"

"Well, her son lost to Naruto Uzumaki, of all. As soon as he recovers, I think Kiba-kun is in for quite the training regimen. Tsume-san would never admit her disappointment, but she does tend to be very competitive. She'll motivate him."

Naruto Uzumaki. What had his brother described him as, once? The class idiot, number one when it came to surprising people. The corner of his lips curled into a smirk at the thought. Good at surprising people, indeed, and he was most definitely far from finished doing that. He seemed to be growing out of Sasuke's first choice of endearment, however. Would his little brother be surprised to find out when he woke up? He wondered.

"Any idea how long they're going to keep you here for?" Itachi asked Akane.

Her thoughts dwelled on the boy with the crushed leg and arm, and on little Hinata Hyuuga, who, in a cruel twist of fate, had sustained heavy internal damage from her cousin's Gentle Fist. The two of them were by far the worst of the lot, and it would take many more healing sessions for them to recover. She was uncertain the boy would make a full recovery, even so. Not for the first time in the past few hours, she thought about her former mentor. If only Tsunade were here. "I can only say there's no way I'm going to make it for our scheduled training today," she said, eventually.

Itachi caught the fleeting shadow on her face, but said nothing of it. He merely acknowledged her words with a nod of his head.

"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, pulling something out of the pocket of her white coat. "I had access to the lab, so I made you a fresh round of medicine, in pill form. Take one every twelve hours."

Pills would be a definite improvement over the horrible substance he had been forcing himself to swallow over the past days. He took the small pouch and was about to say something, when Shisui stirred.

"Aren't you two very chatty this morning?" he said groggily. "Is that coffee I smell?"

"I put yours on the window sill, Shisui-san," Akane said, before turning to Itachi. "I have to go. I'll see you around." She then spun on her heels and walked out of the room before he had a chance to thank her.

But Shisui was not the only one who had just woken up. When Itachi turned to look at Sasuke, his dark eyes were latched onto him, watching him tiredly. How long had he been awake for? He shoved the pouch of pills into a pocket and leaned over to him.

"Hey, Sasuke," he said, swallowing the knot which had formed in his throat. "How are you feeling?"

Sasuke's gaze lingered on him for a few more moments. His lips, however, remained sealed as he turned his head to look away from his older brother. In that moment, Itachi's pain was almost tangible. Shisui watched it unfurl across his features, like a ripple in the pond. He would pull back now. Pull into himself, into his shell, within the safety of his walls. He had seen him do it one too many times, it was like a second nature to him, attained throughout the years. He would slip back into his _shinobi_ skin and endure.

Except this time, he did not.

"Talk to me, Sasuke. Please."

"I have nothing to say to you," Sasuke replied, his voice raspy, but firm.

Shisui felt his own heart cringe at the exchange. He was an only child, and perhaps his relationship with Itachi was the closest thing he would have to compare. Even so, to imagine Itachi talking to him like that struck a chord. He would not want to be in his place at the moment. "_Maa, _Sasuke-kun, Itachi's only trying to-"

"Stay out of this, Shisui, it doesn't concern you," Sasuke snapped, glaring at him.

Shisui did not have time to register his surprise at his cousin's attitude before the door opened. Fugaku and Mikoto walked in, followed by a nurse. The woman eyed the two of them and made an apologetic face. "I'm sorry, only two visitors are allowed in at a time," she said. "Sasuke-kun needs his rest."

Itachi stood up, murmuring a greeting to his parents under his breath as he walked past them. If anything, he seemed eager to leave the room now, and Shisui could not blame him. He grabbed his coffee and followed him out the door, along the seemingly never-ending corridor and out the hospital's front doors, where Itachi finally stopped. Their breaths misted in the cold air. Snowflakes were dancing lazily towards the ground, joining together to form a thin blanket over the patches of withered grass. Although it was already late in the morning, Konoha was quiet.


	21. The Broken Alliance

**Chapter 21 – The Broken Alliance**

"Well, Sasuke? Do you like your _omusubi?_" Mikoto asked, looking up at him hopefully from her barely touched meal. She had spent half the day laboring in the kitchen to make his favorite foods, as she had done every single day since he had been discharged from the hospital.

"They're fine."

"I'm relieved to hear it," she said, undiscouraged by his monotone response. "I was afraid I'd slipped in too much soy sauce in the _okaka_."

Fugaku watched the exchange quietly, barely registering the burning sensation in his fingertips from the cup of tea he was holding. His eyes lingered on the black mark, partially visible on the back of Sasuke's neck, over the collar of his shirt. "How do you feel about the coming match?" he asked.

Sasuke turned his head to look at him. "I'm going to win," he said.

"And I expect no less from my son," Fugaku said. There was a flash of surprise on Sasuke's face, quickly smothered. He was getting a hold of keeping emotion from his face, Fugaku noted, as befit a _shinobi_. "However, there's a fine line between confidence and overconfidence, Sasuke. Never underestimate your opponent. Your recovery period is almost-"

"I know," Sasuke said in a clipped tone. "I'm going to train starting tomorrow."

Itachi inwardly cringed, keeping his eyes on the _umeboshi_ in his plate. His father, ever the diplomat… It had been a valiant effort, he had to give him that, at least. Perhaps he could still salvage something from his blunder, however. "Would you like me to help you with your training?" he asked.

The answer came swiftly and without mercy. "No. I'll be training with Kakashi." Sasuke then stuffed the last bit of _onigiri_ in his mouth and stood up, leaving no more openings for awkward attempts at conversation. "I'm done. Thank you for the meal." A few moments later, the door to his room slid shut.

Itachi leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms, appetite gone. All warmth left Mikoto's face, and for the first time, she did not jump to gather the plates. Fugaku took a sip from his tea, only to find it still too hot, as it left a burning trail on his tongue and down his throat. Their common front disbanded, as it was wont to do whenever Sasuke was not around. It was a fragile alliance, at best, and it had not easily come to be.

* * *

_By the time he finished telling his parents the whole truth about what had happened to Sasuke, Itachi's throat was dry. His eyes were fixed on the lamp which burned like a beacon between the three of them. They had gathered in his father's study after an uncomfortably quiet dinner, and he had made good on his promise to explain everything to them. There was still no official story, given the pending investigation on how it had all happened, and the hospital staff had only given them information on Sasuke's condition, no more._

"_Orochimaru, hm?" Fugaku mused, crossing his arms. For all the praise once given to him as one of Konoha's legendary Sannin, the man was a sinister part of the village's history. News of the horrific experiments he had been conducting in secret had shocked Konoha down to its core in the aftermath of their discovery and his subsequent defection. _

_He could understand why Orochimaru had laid his eyes on Sasuke, in spite of the fact that he was very young. Beyond his bloodline limit, Sasuke showed promise. There was so much untapped potential in him. In the hands of a mentor who had both the time and the patience to train him, Sasuke may well become a force to be reckoned with one day. The thought had crossed Fugaku's mind many times throughout the years, since he had seen him perform that massive fireball over the lake. But Orochimaru wanted him for his own gain. _

"_There's nothing to be done about it now," Fugaku said. "Sasuke will simply have to learn to control the Cursed Seal." He was his son, and an Uchiha. The likes of Orochimaru would never be able to lay claim to him. _

"_Sasuke is still young and impressionable, and Orochimaru will take full advantage of it. He wouldn't have risked marking him if he didn't think he could lure him."_

_Fugaku scoffed. "Lure him? Itachi, you give your brother too little credit and coddle him too much. He needs to learn to stand on his own two feet. You won't always be there to have his back."_

"_You're wrong. He'll always see me as an obstacle he must overcome for you to notice him. I'll admit I've made my own mistakes, but you have been building that mindset in him for years with your neglect. I warned you once. I'm warning you again: this attitude will only serve to antagonize him more. It will send him flying to Orochimaru of his own free will, and we won't be able to stop him then."_

_There was a long moment of silence before his father sighed. "Itachi," he said. "One day you will have children of your own. Perhaps you will understand, then. The future of this clan rests on your shoulders, not Sasuke's. He is free to follow his own path, and you are not. All this time I spent 'neglecting' him was to ensure you would be able to carry the burden when the day comes."_

_Itachi glared at Fugaku. This was not the first time he was trying to emotionally manipulate his way into subduing him, not to mention they were supposed to be discussing Sasuke. "I may die tomorrow," he said, struggling to keep his voice steady. "What will you do then?"_

"_All my efforts have gone into ensuring you would not," Fugaku said, meeting his gaze without flinching._

"_Enough, both of you!" Mikoto raised her voice, taking them both by surprise. "You are tearing this family apart and I will not have it. Fugaku, I can't believe you. Sasuke is my son… _our_ son! You cannot honestly say there's nothing you can do about this, that you would allow that wicked snake to have him!" Then she turned her eyes to Itachi. "And I raised you better than to talk back at your father like that."_

_Itachi bowed his head in submission, even as his lips pressed into a thin line. "I apologize. All I meant was that I believe Sasuke will be sorely tempted by Orochimaru's offer."_

"_Then we must do everything we can to prevent that," Mikoto decided._

* * *

Fugaku finished his tea and stood up. Itachi had gone. Where to, only he knew, because he had said not a word after dinner. The water was running and porcelain plates clinked as Mikoto rinsed them. She had not made one sound, but as he passed by her, Fugaku noticed the glimmer of tears on her face. When he looked at her, she turned away to conceal them. He let her be.

His footsteps were heavy as he walked down the hall. He paused for a moment, before raising his hand to knock. There was no light, nor even the smallest sound that he could detect behind the door, but the _chakra_ flow he could sense was not that of a sleeping mind. When no reply came, he knocked again.

"Go away, Itachi. I told you I have nothing to say to you."

That gave Fugaku pause, as the image of a young Sasuke always running after his brother came to mind, from a time when things used to be much simpler – for the two of them, at least. He had fought so hard to preserve that, to protect their future and that of the Uchiha clan. He could not help but wonder if things would have been different, had he allowed the _coup d'état_ to happen. When had it all started to fall apart around him?

He had pacified the voices calling out for revolt then, and yet he could not pacify his own family now. Itachi on one side, fighting his destiny at every turn. Sasuke, on the other side, still struggling to mold himself to his brother's shadow. Now, Mikoto, on the verge of a breakdown. Where did he stand in the middle of all this?

"It's me, Sasuke," he said.

Fugaku sensed a moment's hesitation before he heard Sasuke stir on the other side. The door then opened, and Sasuke looked up at him, unable to conceal his confusion this time around. Itachi had thrown the word 'neglect' into his face, and the truth of it was staring him in the eyes now. Whatever arguments he came up with to defend himself, he could not deny having done it, albeit unwittingly.

"There's something I want to talk to you about," Fugaku said. "Come." His brother, Sasuke may be able to brush off easily, but not him. He was pleased to see Sasuke follow him to his study without a word of complaint.

Itachi was too softhearted in this. Whether he was aware of it or not, his soft spot for his little brother was both his greatest weakness as well as a source of strength, but in a battle of wills between the two of them, Sasuke would come out on top. Itachi would let it happen, if pressed enough.

He had always been a kind child. Fugaku had gone to great lengths to strengthen and prepare him for the kind of life he would eventually lead, but sometimes he wondered if he had done enough. He remembered Mikoto arguing against him taking Itachi to see the battlefield, during the final weeks of war, but he had been adamant. Itachi needed to see the reality of the world they lived in. Only then, could he survive in it.

Looking at his younger son in light of the recent events, Fugaku could see. Whereas Itachi had thrived due to his ministrations, Sasuke had done the same in their absence. The negligence Itachi had accused him of had hardened Sasuke's heart and prepared him for the _shinobi_ life. _He may yet surpass Itachi someday_, Fugaku surprised himself thinking as he watched Sasuke sit on the _tatami_.

"What is this about, _tou-san?" _Sasuke asked, growing impatient under his scrutiny.

Fugaku drew a deep breath and crossed his arms. "Do you know who Orochimaru is?"

Sasuke frowned, seemingly perplexed by the question, but eventually nodded. He did know. Although Orochimaru's name was almost never mentioned, unlike those of his former teammates, the whole of Konoha knew, and how could they not? History hailed him as a hero of the Third Shinobi War, one of the legendary Sannin. His story as told nowadays, however, served as a cautionary tale rather than an inspirational one. The teachers at the Academy had warned them early on of what befell those who pursued power at all costs.

But Sasuke had looked that evil in the eyes. He had felt the power radiating off him like a miasma that day. That killing intent had been real, something he had never sensed during his battle against Haku, trapped in his Demonic Mirroring. It had overwhelmed him, shaken him to the core, yes. However, part of him could not help but be in awe. Whatever was to be said about the price of power, Orochimaru had gone far beyond the abilities of a _shinobi_. He did not lay his life down at the feet of the _shinigami_, did not live in fear of them… because he had become one of them.

"Do you understand why he chose you? What he wants from you?" Fugaku asked.

Sasuke scoffed softly, closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again, Fugaku barely managed to keep the surprise from showing on his face. His youngest's _sharingan_ was almost fully developed and he had not breathed a word about it. How long had it been since he had awakened it? The little boy who had been vying for his attention for all these years was gone, he realized, feeling a sliver of sadness burrow into his heart, even as pride swelled within him at the sight.

"So, you've awakened the _sharingan. _Well done, Sasuke," he said.

What Sasuke wouldn't have done to hear those words, once. Now they sounded hollow, falling on deaf ears and a numb heart. His _sharingan_ only reminded him of his near-brush with death in a faraway country. Of his argument with Itachi. Like most of the achievements in his life, his father's praise had come too late.

"You said you wanted to talk," he pointed out, "but you've only been asking me questions."

"Itachi believes you might be tempted to use that seal for the power it holds. That you might even seek out Orochimaru, believing he could offer you more."

Sasuke frowned, then quirked a brow. "And if I do?"

This, Fugaku had not expected.

_I warned you once. I'm warning you again._

Either Sasuke was bluffing out of spite, which he would not put past him at the moment, or Itachi had been right, possessing a foresight he did not have. Whichever it was, Fugaku needed to make clear the gravity of the situation.

"You cannot seriously be considering it. Orochimaru wants you for his own gain, I thought you understood that. This is no trifling matter. You are an Uchiha. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to start acting like it."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at that. _Is this what it's like to be you, Itachi? _he wondered. He remembered the morning of his departure to the Land of Waves, the look that had passed between Itachi and their father. _No, _he thought._ Father would take you seriously._ He bowed his head. "I understand," he said quietly.

"I'll see what can be done about the Cursed Seal after the _chuunin_ exam ends," Fugaku said. "Whatever happens until then, do not use it."

"_Hai, tou-san."_

* * *

Slacks. Shirt.

_One day, you will have children of your own. _

Shin wraps.

_Perhaps you will understand, then._

Sandals.

_The future of this clan rests on your shoulders, not Sasuke's._

Arm guards. Weapon pouch.

_He is free to follow his own path, and you are not._

Vest. Sword.

_All this time I spent 'neglecting' him was to ensure you would be able to carry the burden when the day comes._

Mask.

* * *

Orochimaru. He had been the only one he had not written to, and yet, somehow, he had beaten his former teammates to Konoha. Fate sure had a sense of humor. It was mocking him now, in his old age, throwing past mistakes into his face. He drew deeply from his pipe and blew out the smoke, pondering. Hiruzen had been starting to wonder if either of them would show up, when one of them finally did.

Jiraiya had arrived in the late morning, although Hiruzen suspected he would have delayed more if Ebisu had not run into him at a nearby _onsen_. He was standing by the window now, deep in thought himself after having learned of the recent events.

"I wouldn't have come, you know," Jiraiya said. "So, don't get any ideas. I don't want to get involved in this mess."

"I figured as much," Hiruzen said. "Orochimaru was never your responsibility, in any case. It was mine, and I failed in that. Whatever may come, this is my mistake to repair. I asked you to come for a whole different reason, but I had hoped Tsunade would be here, too."

Jiraya scoffed. "Knowing her, she's out losing a gamble somewhere. I came as a courtesy, but she was never one to care much about such things. As for your reason, I have to say I was surprised, old man. I thought you'd never give up asking me to succeed you."

"Even in my old age, I learn," Hiruzen said, amused.

"Still, you must be growing senile, _sensei_. An Uchiha? The Council will never agree to it."

Hiruzen opened his mouth to speak when a knock at the door interrupted him. One of the ANBU guards stationed outside poked his head in when prompted. "Itachi Uchiha is here to see you, Hokage-sama. Shall I tell him to wait?"

"No, no, send him in," Hiruzen said. He had sent Saruko to summon him earlier, before Jiraiya had shown up unexpectedly.

The boy walked in, clad in full ANBU attire. He bowed once to him and, noticing Jiraiya by the window, bowed in his direction as well. Whether he was surprised to find a legendary _Sannin_ in his office, Hiruzen could not tell, and in any case, Jiraiya's presence could easily be pinned on Orochimaru's recent appearance. Itachi had no reason to suspect anything beyond that.

"I have an assignment for you," Hiruzen said, holding out a scroll, which Itachi took without a word. "You might have heard that a patrol has gone missing near the border with Ame, more than a week ago. The team I sent to investigate has failed to report in, as well."

He saw the glow of the _sharingan_ flit towards Jiraiya uncertainly, and answered the unspoken question. "I cannot say for certain if this has anything to do with the Akatsuki," Hiruzen said, drawing the red eyes back to him. "Which is why I would like your team to investigate. I cannot afford to lose more teams before I know exactly what we're dealing with. Either way, you are the best equipped to deal with this. Everything we know is in that scroll. Gather your team, discuss the matter and set your affairs in order. You leave at dawn."

"Understood," Itachi said, tucking the scroll into a pocket.

Hiruzen watched the boy perform a seal and vanish without a trace. His gaze lingered on the empty space where he had been, watching the leaves he had left behind twirl on their way down to the floor.

"Is this him, then?" Jiraiya asked. "You like to pick them young. Is that why you didn't ask me again? I must confess, I'm hurt."

Hiruzen smirked. "Very young, but capable. The will of fire burns in him. It would be a waste for it to get lost in the darkness of the ANBU."

"The fact still stands that the Council will never agree to an Uchiha as your successor."

"My mind is made up and they can be swayed. And in any case, it's only half the council that I'm worried will trouble me over this. Jiraiya, if something happens to me… it will take both you and Tsunade to ensure my will is done. This is my final request to you."

Jiraiya sighed. "Don't get melodramatic, I get it. I'll go look for Tsunade and convince her, if it'll ease your mind. I can't say I'll succeed, however. You know how she gets her panties in a twist at the sight of me."

Hiruzen laughed, a great cloud of smoke billowing out. "You haven't changed at all," he said.

* * *

Sasuke panted, feeling the cold air sear his throat, even as the rest of him burned hot from the strain. He allowed himself a few moments to catch his breath before resuming the exercise. This time, he would be able to replicate it, for sure. His trembling hands went through the seals, which the _sharingan_ had copied without a hitch. He forced chakra into his left hand and channeled his focus into changing its nature.

The sudden shift caused it to light up with a chirrup and he almost lost control of it, so Sasuke grasped his wrist with the other hand to hold it in place. It was giving in to the high concentration of rapidly vibrating _chakra_ and threatening to cause him to miss the target. He started running, _sharingan _blazing to keep track of the world around him as he sped towards the boulder ahead.

Kakashi watched his student perform his first _Chidori_, reminded of how things had gone the last time he had taught someone his signature _jutsu_. Sasuke's speed was better, although there was room for improvement, his _chakra _control lesser, which was a testament to his many failed attempts so far, and his _chakra_ reserves… _Maa, he's still very young,_ Kakashi thought as the _Chidori_ in Sasuke's hand died out just before hitting the boulder, which caused his hand to smash into the boulder.

"Fuck!" Sasuke bellowed, in both pain and frustration.

"_Hai, hai_, time for a break, Sasuke," Kakashi said to him. "Eat something to replenish your _chakra_ supply."

"I'm not hungry."

"Death wishes are not on the menu today. Surely you don't need me to tell you what happens when you don't have enough _chakra_ left for a _jutsu_."

Sasuke glared at him, but said nothing more. He dropped on a rock and started rummaging through his pack for food. Kakashi was watching him to make sure he complied, when something caught his eye. A black bird landed on the tall rock behind Sasuke, eyeing the two of them with a cock of its head. It then cawed at Kakashi, who held out a hand, invitingly.

Sasuke peered at it through narrowed eyes, his fist curling around the field ration jerky until his knuckles turned white. The crow paid him no heed, instead gracefully hopping off the rock and gliding to Kakashi's hand, where it held out its leg to him. Sasuke bit into the jerky, chewing at it until his cheeks hurt from the effort, then stuffed some more into his mouth, all the while watching Kakashi read the tiny scroll brought by the bird.

"What does it say?" Sasuke asked when it became clear Kakashi had no intent on telling him what Itachi wanted.

"Your brother isn't the only one who has a contract with crows, you know," Kakashi said, quirking a brow.

The crow turned its attention to Sasuke. It flapped its wings and dived down, landing beside him with a loud caw, then craned its neck to get at his jerky. Too distracted by the attempted theft to further mind Kakashi, Sasuke pulled the jerky away, even as his other hand swatted at the crow. It hopped from one side to the other, skillfully evading his blows.

"I didn't ask if it was from him," Sasuke argued, using his arm to shield his face from the black wings as the bird lunged for the food. He knew it was from Itachi. His chakra signature was unmistakable, sustaining the summoned crow.

"You could give it some, you know," Kakashi suggested, albeit mildly amused by the squabble.

Sasuke made a sound of displeasure, but relented. He tore a piece of jerky and held it out. The crow cocked its head, then took the proffered bit, nipping his palm in the process. It gobbled it quickly, while Sasuke massaged the red welt on his skin. Then, it cawed at him, loud enough to make him jump. "Get lost," he said, tucking away the remaining jerky. But the crow held out a leg, and his eyes fell on the scroll attached to it.

Itachi was playing mind games, again, he thought, taking it. He was falling for them, again, but curiosity got the better of him. He took the scroll, mindful of the crow's beak, although it made no more attempts to peck him. A knot settled in his throat when he opened it, tightening as his eyes darted over the words. Seeing the message received and read, the crow took off with a few flaps of its wings.

Sasuke set the scroll aside and stood up. His _sharingan_ activated with little to no effort on his part and his hands rushed through the seals as he set his sight on the target. He heard Kakashi protest, but shut his voice out until it was completely covered by the loud chirruping of the _Chidori_ forming in his hand. Lightning crackled. His legs moved seemingly of their own accord and he dashed forward with something akin to a roar erupting from his throat.

_Sasuke, I'm leaving on a mission today. I might be away for a while. I can't know for sure, so I wanted to apologize in advance if I don't make it to your upcoming match. Things haven't been well between us, I know._

The _Chidori_ cut through the rock in a cloud of dust and pebbles. The stone groaned, cracks extending from the hole, breaking it through the middle and causing it to topple. Sasuke leaned against what remained of it, breathless and giddy. He collapsed at the base, cradling his bloodied, aching hand, and allowed his head to bump back against the rock, a satisfied smirk on his face.

_Don't talk to me if you don't want to, I'll be content to listen to your silence. Hate me if you will, I'll still love you._

Kakashi rushed to Sasuke, who was now laughing at the sky, pumped full of adrenaline. He had done it. The _chakra_ burns likely meant Kakashi would hold him back from practicing it for a couple of days, but he had finally done it.

_At the end of the day, you're still my little brother. I'll always be here for you, no matter what. _

**About this chapter: I always found it strange that the rookies didn't seem to know much, if anything, about the legendary Sannin. I think Konoha would hail its heroes beyond slapping their faces on a mountain, or their names on a stone (after their death!), in the sense that their stories would be told to inspire the next generations. As for Orochimaru's, I definitely don't think it would have been swept under the rug just because he was deemed evil. **

**On another note, if you care for trivia and the work behind this story, I realized that for me, Sasuke is the most difficult character to write. A close runner-up would be Fugaku, so you can imagine how many times I felt the need to bang my head against the desk while writing the scene between the two of them.**

**As for the previous chapter: someone pointed out that Kabuto got off easily. Looking back, I tend to agree, so thank you for the input. I came up with something that might fix it, but implementing that idea now would feel like cheating, so I'll let it be for the moment. Maybe I'll redo that part once the story is complete, although it wouldn't affect much in the grand scheme of things. Kabuto will get what's coming for him, one way or another. **


	22. Boundaries

**Chapter 22 – Boundaries**

His breath misted and the air nipped at his face as he hurriedly made his way along the street. He shivered under the white robe, rubbing his shoulders as he strode, in an attempt to get his blood running again, because at the moment it felt like it had congealed in his veins.

The sun was close to rising, or so it was supposed to, because he could see no light at the horizon to announce its advent. The sky above was overcast, likely to make today's dawn break a prolonged and dull affair. There was only streetlight to guide his steps. Luckily for him, it was not a long way from the Uchiha district to the gates.

Shisui was thinking he would be the first one to arrive, when his eyes fell upon a familiar figure sitting on a bench. Itachi was seemingly engrossed in a scroll he was reading, and a messenger crow was perking on his shoulder, almost looking like it was reading the message itself.

"You're here early," Shisui said after they exchanged greetings.

"I thought the cold would help me think," Itachi said, rolling up the scroll and attaching it to the crow's leg.

"Did it?"

Itachi checked both of the black bird's legs to ensure the messages were secured before sending it off. It flew away, quickly swallowed by the darkness. "Not really."

He stood up and brushed off the hoarfrost from the back of his cloak, although most of it had melted and soaked in by now. He was not wearing his ANBU mask, so the marks of sleeplessness were plain to see, even to Shisui, once he got within an arm's length. The lines on Itachi's face were deeper, the circles under his eyes darker. From under the lashes lowered as a guard, his gaze seemed like today's dawn, with its light unable to penetrate through the clouds.

Shisui's brows furrowed in concern at the sight. "Did you sleep at all?" he asked.

"I'll sleep when I'm dead," Itachi replied, in a tone more beaten than the last time Shisui had seen him in this state.

His heart gave a painful twinge at the sound of those words. Throughout the past week, since Sasuke had been discharged from the hospital, Itachi had spent as much time at home as their schedule allowed, trying to pick up the broken pieces of his relationship with his family. With Sasuke, especially.

Shisui had seen his friend fleeting to and from the training grounds day after day, hardly a moment wasted on small talk with anyone. Itachi could only invest himself emotionally in so much at a given point, so he did not begrudge him that, yet it was becoming all too clear that his efforts were taking a toll on him. That his affections had been rejected once more, if not become entirely one-sided. Shisui found himself wondering if Sasuke could truly be so cruel. Somehow, he could not relate the past image of his younger cousin to the version of him which he had seen at the hospital that morning.

_The curse of the Uchiha,_ Shisui thought mournfully. _Love drives us, love consumes us… and when there's nothing left for us to love, it all turns into hatred. _The _Mangekyou_ was a testament to that. Pain turned into power, red like the blood spilled to awaken it. Shisui prayed Itachi would never know that kind of pain.

"We don't have to go, you know," he said, placing a hand on Itachi's shoulder. He could feel his warmth through the cloak, seeping into his frozen hand. "You can still cancel the mission."

"No," Itachi said, a strange urgency in his voice. "I need this."

He was distancing himself, Shisui realized, retreating into the shadows as Itachi the ANBU captain, instead of Itachi Uchiha, the brother. "Need and want are two very different things, Itachi."

"I know."

Shisui gazed mournfully at his younger cousin, wanting nothing more than to take his pain upon himself. Some of it, at the very least. He had been fighting for a long time now. He needed to know it was alright to lay down his weapons every once in a while, that there were still people around him who would not judge him for it. His fingers dug into Itachi's shoulder and his heart skipped a beat as he pulled him in his arms.

"I'm here for you," Shisui said. "I always will be."

Itachi tensed at the sudden closeness, only to ease into it once the momentary surprise passed. Shisui's warm _chakra _enveloped them both, rising against the cold seeping through their cloaks. Unfamiliar, but not uncomfortable. Itachi felt so exhausted, body and soul, that all he wanted was to give in to this moment, to suspend it in time. To hold on to it, for as long as he could. "Thank you, Shisui," he whispered.

"_Ohayo_," said a third voice, and it was only at the sound of it that the two of them became aware of another presence in their vicinity.

Shisui pulled back, fighting the heat he could feel rising to his cheeks. He looked over his shoulder to see Akane standing behind them, eyeing them impassively. Itachi turned away to grab his backpack from the bench, where he had left it, avoiding her gaze. Strangely enough, Akane seemed equally bent on keeping her eyes averted from him.

* * *

_Itachi summoned the rest of team Yon to the ANBU training grounds that afternoon, to discuss the coming mission in the aftermath of his brief meeting with the Hokage. Tsume and Kuromaru were the last to make their appearance, and by then the others could already feel the cold biting into their flesh. The icy wind sweeping across the clearing had not helped. Shisui thought almost longingly of the past summer's heat._

_The information contained within the scroll Itachi had received from the Hokage was meager, at best. All they would have to go on were details pertaining to the initial, missing patrol team, to the recently missing squad which had gone after them, and the border patrol route. Itachi let them in on as much as he knew himself, careful to make note of what the Hokage had said._

"_There's no way of knowing if the Akatsuki is involved, so we'd best be careful," he said. "I suggest we begin our search along the border patrol route. Tsume and Kuromaru, we'll be counting on you in this, especially."_

"_Yes, captain," the Inuzuka and her ninken both said at the same time._

"_There's no telling how long this search will take, and we'll be headed for the mountains, so make sure you pack accordingly. It's bound to be cold at this time of year and there's likely to be snow. Any questions?" His gaze shifted between the four of them, but no one said a word. "Then I'll see you tomorrow, at dawn."_

_Three of them nodded and vanished. Itachi's eyes fell upon the last remaining figure, and Akane raised her gaze to meet his. "A word, captain?" she said._

_Itachi had an inkling he knew what this was about, but he could not refuse her. He nodded cautiously, grateful for the cover of his mask._

"_I haven't cleared you for field work," Akane said. "It's only been two weeks. The treatment is working, but you still need your rest."_

"_I feel fine," he argued. "And in any case, this assignment seems like a good way to ease myself back into action."_

"_Both your points are moot," she insisted. "You feel fine because you've been sticking to your treatment plan. You still need regular healing sessions and, I repeat, rest. Besides, the parameters of this mission are uncertain, at best, you made that very clear. There's no telling what we'll find out there. For all intents and purposes, this was my call to make, Itachi, not yours."_

_Itachi felt the need to rub the bridge of his nose to ease the tension threatening to spread out towards his temples, but the ANBU mask prevented that. He could feel his patience ebbing away, growing thinner by the day. With Sasuke gone, training with Kakashi, there was nothing left to distract him from his mother's misery and his father's attempts to bring him to heel. Truth be told, he had been entirely selfish in accepting the mission, if only to get away from all that. To get a breath of fresh air. To put some distance between him and the mess his life had become._

"_Don't take this from me," he said in a quiet tone._

_Akane's eyes widened in surprise. The sharingan glowed red through the slits in the ANBU mask, fixing her. He was throwing her own words back in her face, the ghosts of a near past which for all her struggles, had never left her. She crossed her arms, starting to feel the cold creeping under her skin._

"_This is different," she said._

"_Is it?" Itachi asked, his voice gaining a cutting edge. "You know many things, Akane, but do not presume to know me." _

_A flash of hurt crossed her face before it resettled into its usual composure. "You're making a mistake."_

"_Thank you for your input," he said, when it became clear she would not continue to argue. "I'll see you tomorrow."_

* * *

They had run all day to take full advantage of the precious few hours of daylight. By the time night fell upon them, Itachi's chest felt wound up in a tight knot and the icy air hitched in his throat with every breath. The lack of exercise over the past couple of weeks was evident in the way his muscles responded to the effort now, as compared to before the accursed illness which had ravaged his lungs.

He stifled a cough as they came to a halt in the middle of a small clearing. His eyes found Tenzo, and Itachi did not need to ask for him to gather his meaning. Tenzo's hands worked through the seals before slamming into the frost-covered ground, sending his _chakra_ into it.

"_Mokuton: Shichuuka no Jutsu!"_

The dormant roots underneath the ground responded to Tenzo's _chakra_ and did his bidding, pushing through towards the surface and reshaping themselves to recreate his projected mental image. The _Rakuyouan_ took shape, a wooden house that would serve as their shelter for the night. It was too cold by far to consider camping outside, and they were all relieved that Itachi had allowed Tenzo to expend his _chakra_ on this _jutsu._

"I'll place the tags to make it undetectable," Tenzo said as they entered the house. "You go on and get the fire going."

Shisui followed Tsume and Kuromaru, who seemed familiar with the interior of the place, into a large room. There was a firepit in the middle, along with all the necessary firewood to keep a blaze going through the night, courtesy of Tenzo. Shisui was relieved they would not have to wander outside, in the cold and dark, to look for dry wood. He formed the hand seals almost like an afterthought, and a blaze came to life, engulfing the stack of wood.

The room lit up and Shisui slumped down beside the firepit, grateful for the warmth which radiated against his face, which had been numb from the cold for hours now. He was content to simply sit there, while the rest of his team busied themselves laying out their bedrolls and digging out their food supplies.

"We're barely halfway there, and it's already cold as shit," Tsume mumbled as she plopped down on the floor moments later, next to Shisui, her mouth half full with a ration bar. "I hate winter."

"It beats a summer heatwave," Kuromaru commented nonchalantly, lying down by the fire himself, nevertheless.

"Only because you have fur."

Shisui smiled softly at the banter, even as his eyes were trained on Itachi. He had been quiet all day, and while that was not unusual in itself, Shisui knew there was more behind Itachi's silence this time. While he could only guess at the events that had brought this about, their effects were plain to see. They worried him.

Itachi finished laying out his bedroll in one corner of the room and pulled out a _bento_ from his backpack before joining the others by the fire to bring some warmth into his limbs. The run had left him spent, and once the heat from the effort had dispersed, he had started shivering. The ample room would take a while to heat up from the fire, so he kept his cloak on.

"This is the same missing team I mentioned to you a while back, you know," Tsume murmured as she stared into the fire. She was sitting with her knees brought up under her chin, more serious than Shisui had ever seen her before. "At the _mahjong _game, remember?" she added, like an afterthought. "What do you think happened to them?"

"It's been over a week," Tenzo said, the last one to take his place by the fire now that he had finished putting up the concealment barrier of the _Rakuyouan_. "The odds aren't in their favor, at this point."

"They could have been captured," Tsume said.

No one contradicted her, but even she had not sounded very certain of her words. Deep down, they all knew the chances of finding the border patrolmen alive after all this time were slim to none, whether they had been captured or not.

"We'll reach the border outpost tomorrow," Itachi said. "The _jounin _in charge there may shed some light on the situation. Even if he can't, it will be a place to start tracking the missing patrolmen, at least, so I need you both well rested," he told Tsume and Kuromaru, who both nodded in acknowledgement.

"You don't have to tell me twice, captain," Tsume said. "I'm weary to the bones from the cold." As if to mark her words, she finished eating and stood up, ambling towards her bedroll.

For all their diligent training since the last mission, the lack of exercise was showing in all of them. Or perhaps it was the same cold Tsume kept blaming. Missions in winter time always seemed longer and more difficult than they were. That was a given, Shisui thought. He himself much preferred running about in summertime, but there was nothing to be done about it, one way or another. Missions were missions. Someone had to do them.

One by one, his teammates filed off to sleep. The room grew quiet as the fire kept on crackling, and after a time, he felt comfortable enough to shrug off his cloak, though not nearly spent enough to go lie down himself. At the very least, today's journey had seemingly pushed Itachi over the edge, enough for him to fall into a restless sleep.

* * *

Akane woke up with a jolt, clamping her mouth shut before the scream could tear out of her throat. Her heart was hammering in her chest, slamming against her ribcage like a frantic bird. She ran a hand through her hair, breathing in and out deeply a few times to settle herself before sitting up. The bedroll suddenly seemed too constricting and her throat felt like sandpaper.

The fire was down to embers, suffusing the room in darkness more than light now, but she thought she could discern a figure sitting beside it. She slipped out of the bedroll and quietly padded towards it.

"We don't have to keep watch, you know," she whispered as she sat down by the dying fire. "Tenzo's _Rakuyouan_ is as safe a camp as we can get."

Shisui looked at her with a tired smile. "I couldn't sleep."

"I don't have anything for that, I'm afraid."

Akane reached out for the water container and soothed her parched throat with a few mouthfuls. Shisui's eyes went back down to the glowing embers. "Bad dreams?" he asked after a while.

"Occasionally," she replied, crossing her legs.

"About… back then?"

Akane's eyes darted to him, impossible to read. "I'd rather talk about your heart condition," she said, matter-of-factly.

"_Eeh?_" Shisui inquired, alarmed by her words.

"Every once in a while, in certain circumstances, your heart rate spikes, and may remain elevated for a few minutes. Your pupils dilate, your palms sweat, your chest feels tight, you may become lightheaded, and you might even experience a sort of… fluttering sensation in your stomach."

Shisui's lips parted, but no sound came out. He stared at her in poorly concealed bafflement, finding it more difficult to recompose himself than when Tsume had confronted him with the same truth. At long last, he found his words again and scoffed. "Honestly, I don't know what shocks me more: the fact that everyone seems to know except for him, or that you actually possess a sense of humor."

Akane poked the embers with a stick, watching the sparks fly up. "I'm pretty certain Tenzo doesn't know, either."

"Not the point," Shisui said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "So, is this how you deflect uncomfortable questions, by throwing equally uncomfortable truths in the asker's face? And here I thought you to be above manipulation."

"It's a weapon, like any other," she said with a shrug.

He peered at her from the corner of his eyes. "I'm afraid I can't help but wonder how sharp yours is, now that the cat's out of the bag."

"_That_ would be beneath me, Shisui-san."

While it came as a relief to know she would not use the information against him in any way, it still bothered him that she knew. It bothered him that in joining team Yon, his best-guarded secret had been exposed to no fewer than two of its members already.

"At least you don't seem inclined to pellet me with questions, like Tsume-san did for a while after she sniffed me out," Shisui said, growing increasingly more uncomfortable in the silence.

"Would it ease your mind if I did?" she asked, a shrewd glint in her eyes.

"Not for the reasons you might think."

Akane cast him a sideways glance. "Well, it's obvious you care about Itachi, and I don't believe such affections fall into the categories of 'why' or 'why not'. We are _shinobi, _we deal with our feelings however we must to protect ourselves."

"Is that how you see it?" he mused.

The shadows danced across her face as she gazed into the dying fire. "Tell me, then," she said, "what frightens you more: the possibility that others might judge you or the fact that by allowing yourself to love, you would become vulnerable?"

Shisui's lips formed a thin, pale line. He ran a hand through his unruly hair once, twice. "You don't know what it means to be an Uchiha," he said, though his voice wavered over his own family name.

_Clearly,_ Akane thought, her mind fleeting back to her recent argument with Itachi. He had not spoken to her since, and she had decided to give him his space for the time being.

"I won't say I don't care what people think, because I do," Shisui continued. "Everyone does, deep down. And whereas I myself could endure, Itachi is the heir to our clan. I will do nothing to endanger his future."

"The first option, then."

Shisui scoffed softly. "Nope." He took a few chugs of water, wishing it were something else. "I wasn't finished. You see, an Uchiha's love runs deep, it burns bright and hot. A veritable bonfire in the dead of winter," he said with a snicker. "We take our strength from it for as long as we fight to protect those we love. _Shinobi _from across the nations still tremble at the sight of us on the battlefield; no wonder we've become so arrogant."

He looked up at Akane, who was still listening. "But this world we live in is a cruel one. War, peace, it doesn't matter… it never ends. People drift apart, people die. An Uchiha's love is a terrible thing, because it can so quickly turn to hatred when corrupted by loss. The fire becomes all-consuming." It had almost burned him, once. His _Mangekyou_ had been paid for in blood and pain.

Akane followed Shisui's gaze, which had inadvertently shifted to Itachi's sleeping form, in the far corner of the room. "Why do I get the feeling this is as much an explanation as it is a warning?" she asked.

"Itachi has always been exceptional. It's what set him apart, what isolated him from his peers. I've been his friend for many years, yet sometimes it's difficult even for me to get through to him. I was relieved shortly after I joined team Yon, because I realized I was not his only friend anymore," he said with a chuckle.

"I suppose we did grow on him… eventually."

"You, especially."

Akane averted her gaze. "I find myself out of uncomfortable truths to throw at you, Shisui-san."

"Consider it payback, if you will, although you'll notice I didn't ask a question," he said with an innocent smile.

She sighed. "I'm afraid Itachi is still quite a puzzle to me."

"But then again, you Naras love your puzzles."

Akane's eyes flashed to him, wide open and luminous, in spite of the wan light from the firepit. Shisui met her look of surprise openly, not a trace of malice on his face. If anything, there was a certain warmth softening his features.

"So," Shisui said, "what frightens _you_ the most, Akane-san?"

"I…"

A sudden fit of coughing interrupted her, the sound of it filling the quiet room. Their heads snapped towards Itachi, who was sitting up, doubled over with the racking coughs. Akane was on her feet the next moment, striding towards him, already sending _chakra_ into her hands. She knelt beside Itachi and placed her hands on his back, even as he shook violently.

The moment healing _chakra_ entered his system, the fit began to subside. Itachi drew in a deep, shaky breath, willing himself to relax and his body to respond to her ministration. The tightness in his chest uncoiled gradually. He looked at Akane through the bangs falling over his face as he tried to catch his breath.

"I'm sorry," he said in a raspy voice.

Akane glanced at him and nodded in silent acceptance. When she had looked at him, Itachi's face had almost seemed childlike it its contrition. For some reason, it brought back the memory of when she had first seen him.

* * *

_Akane was sitting on the window sill, a heavy textbook balanced on her knees. Yui was leaning against the frame, eyeing the younger students running along the corridor while twirling a curly, blonde lock around her finger._

"_So noisy," she murmured distastefully. "Skittering about like mice."_

"_We used to be like that," Akane said, turning a page. "Although I seem to recall being likened to roaches by our senpai. Mice are actually cute."_

"_Ew, Akane. Just… ew."_

_It was a friendship of habit between her and Yui, forged between them since early childhood, given that their parents were close friends. It had its ups and downs, but convenience kept it stable. Akane was not much of a socializer and Yui was too haughty to mingle, or so she wanted everyone to believe._

"_Although look at this mouse," Yui said, causing Akane to raise her eyes from the textbook._

_A boy passed by, noticeable only by the wide berth the other children were giving him, and the fact that he was shorter than everyone else. If his black hair was not exactly telltale on its own, the symbol on the back of t-shirt was. He was an Uchiha. Yui arrived at the same conclusion quickly enough._

"_So that's the Uchiha they keep yapping about," Yui said as her eyes followed him down the hall. "He's supposedly this… genius. He doesn't look like much, though. Pitiful, really."_

_At those words, the small boy turned his head, and Akane thought he had looked straight them, as if he had heard. She felt a twinge of guilt in her stomach and lowered her eyes back to the book without a word. To her, he had seemed neither gifted nor pitiful. All she had seen in his eyes was loneliness. _

**Yui has appeared in this story before: a virtual cookie to everyone who remembers when.**

**Other than that, this is likely the last chapter for the year, so I wish you all the best for 2020! **


	23. Bait and Switch

**Chapter 23 – Bait and Switch**

"ANBU?! Hokage-sama has sent ANBU?"

The look on the _jounin_ commander of the border outpost's face seemed to match his tone in terms of incredulousness. He was a stocky, dark man, still holding on to some semblance of authority by holding his arms akimbo, though despite his attempt to make himself appear larger, he had inadvertently shifted slightly to one side instead of directly facing the five masked _shinobi_ standing before him.

"A full squad has gone missing while searching for your lost border patrol," Itachi said. "Hokage-sama does not take such things lightly, and in any case, it's none of our business to comment upon his decisions," he finished diplomatically.

"Yes, of course," the commander said, showing discreet signs of submission. He sighed and crossed his arms. "Forgive my surprise. It's just that your reputation precedes you, and I've never dealt with your kind before."

Tsume's eyebrow twitched. Shisui refrained from rolling his eyes only because it would have been visible through the holes in his mask. Their kind? As if they were not even human, but apparitions come to steal the good _shinobi_ away into the night. Secrecy often bred speculation, it seemed. The darker the shroud, the more outlandish the stories, and their line of work did not lack for darkness. Shisui would have loved to hear what this _jounin_ thought he knew about the ANBU, but Itachi was all business today and did not seem in the least bit put off by the man's demeanor.

"We operate based on the same principles as everyone else, up to a certain point," Itachi said. "Which means I would like to ask you some questions. I assume the initial search team did the same."

"Well, yes. Not that it helped them much in the end, I suppose," he muttered as he led them inside the surveillance tower which served as the border outpost.

Itachi wasted no time and started asking the _jounin_ questions about the missing patrolmen, seemingly trying to correlate the information they had received from the Hokage with the commander's own. Establishing a rapport and verifying the accuracy of that information at the same time – Shisui found himself agreeing wholeheartedly to his cousin's approach.

"He almost pissed himself," Tsume said under her breath, taking advantage of Itachi having successfully drawn the _jounin_ commander into an in-depth discussion, out of a whisper's earshot.

Shisui snickered, and was even more amused by the disgruntled sound Tenzo made beside him. There was a fire crackling in the room at the base of the tower, where the four of them stopped to warm up as Itachi conducted his interview. Tsume squatted by the fireplace to warm her backside, stroking Kuromaru, whose fur was cold and wet from the sleet falling in sheets outside.

From the other end of the room, they could hear the lengthy discussion continue between Itachi and the _jounin_ commander, even as they pretended not to listen. The commander was now going over the workings of the border outpost and the setup of their shifts. Border patrols consisting of two _chuunin_ left the tower at regular intervals, headed for the next outpost. The alarm had been raised when the missing patrolmen had failed to check in for the night at the other tower. The commander had first initiated a local search before sending word to Konoha the very next morning, having found no trace of their comrades. So far, nothing illuminating, Shisui mused as he stared into the fire.

"There was a storm that day, which raged throughout the night," the commander went on. "We thought it might have been bad enough for them to take shelter somewhere, although it's not exactly standard practice, and they would have at least sent word. We're used to storms here, being so close to Ame, but the weather's been weird."

"Weird how?" Itachi asked.

"Whimsical, that's how it is during the cold season. Like one day you get this hell of a storm and two days later it's all sunshine and warm, like spring is coming, but you can't see the mountaintop from the mist."

"Which mountain?"

"Hakuzan. It's the tallest one around these parts. On clear days, you can see the temple at the summit all the way from here. The monks there specialize in exorcisms, or so I hear. They're supposedly guarding this holy purifying stone or something. Probably a load of horseshit, if you ask me."

Itachi had not, and he refrained from making any comments himself, opting to steer the discussion back on track. "What can you tell me about the squad that came from Konoha?" he asked.

"Not much, I'm afraid. One _jounin, _three _chuunin._ They came, they asked their questions, and we never heard from them again. Next thing I know, I get word another team is on its way and you lot show up. I never expected ANBU. Didn't think you guys got involved with such menial things, to be honest. I always pictured you as the ones who… you know," he said, making a suggestive gesture by drawing a thumb across his throat.

Tsume scoffed. "And here I thought a modicum of intelligence was a _jounin_ prerequisite," she commented in a low voice.

"Does that mean there's more to this mess than meets the eye?" the commander asked Itachi, blithely unaware of an audience.

Shisui smirked behind his weasel mask. "Perhaps he's not entirely as obtuse as he lets on."

"I assume the patrolmen have lodgings here," Itachi said, choosing not to answer the man's question. "Is there any chance some of their personal effects have been left behind?"

The commander appeared puzzled by the question, but he nodded nonetheless. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, they left some stuff behind."

"May we have a look?"

The _jounin's_ eyes drifted to Kuromaru, who was sitting on his haunches by the fire, and realization settled on his face. "Of course."

* * *

Tsume wrinkled her nose as they stepped outside the tower, where the sleet had at least downgraded to a cold drizzle. Kuromaru padded quietly beside her, turning his snout up to sniff at the air before lowering it to the ground.

"Fat chance we'll be trailing them too far," Tsume said. "It's wet and it's been a while."

"We'll exhaust this lead before we move on to the next, regardless," Itachi said, betraying nothing of his relief to be out of the tower and away from the _jounin_ commander. The man was a walking headache.

"_Hai, hai_, this way, then."

They followed Tsume as she made for the woods to the south. The drizzle gradually seeped through their cloaks, their clothes, and ultimately reached their skin as hours went by, unchecked. Once or twice, the scent became too faint for her to track, but Kuromaru took the lead, treading lightly through the sodden carpet of dead leaves and constantly sniffing about. By the looks of it, the border patrol had followed their route without fail, so far.

Dusk fell. The weather had not improved, and although they were all soaked to the bones and they had not had a proper break all day, Itachi did not call for a halt. Delaying any longer may well cause Tsume and Kuromaru to lose the scent altogether. Not one of them complained, out of respect for their comrades who were still at work.

It was sometime after sundown when Tsume stopped, bringing the rest of the team to a halt, as well. Kuromaru seemed at a loss himself, darting left and right, and back again, sniffing at every tree, twig, bush and leaf in between. Itachi knew well by now what that meant.

"It's gone," Kuromaru said, confirming his suspicion. "I've lost the scent, captain."

Itachi nodded thoughtfully. There would be little point in pushing this any further for the time being. "Tenzo, put up the _Rakuyouan_," he said.

"Yes, captain."

Tonight, the space around the fireplace was mostly occupied by drying racks of clothes, which they had all peeled off the moment they had walked in, with little thought given to the cold. It took from the light of the fire, as well as its warmth, so they huddled together beside what little opening to the fireplace was left, shivering.

"Does anyone have anything to eat?" Tsume asked, curled up into a miserable heap beside Kuromaru.

"Soldier pills," Akane said.

"A ration bar," Tenzo added to the offer.

"I suppose it would be too much to ask for something warm," Tsume said despondently.

"How about some cup o' _ramen_?" Shisui asked with a wide grin, already up and rummaging through his backpack. "I only managed to fit three in my backpack, but we could heat some water over the fire and…"

"Marry me," Tsume said, successfully bringing tears into her eyes for the dramatic effect.

"… share?" Shisui finished, his voice gone down to a whisper in embarrassment.

Tsume's stomach growled rather loudly in the ensuing silence, to everyone's amusement. "What?" she asked with a mischievous grin. "My mother used to say that if a man can provide, he's fair game. Besides, the younger, the better, I'd say."

Shisui cast a glance at Tenzo, who had shriveled into a sullen silence, and smirked. He was clearly clueless about the show Tsume was putting on. "It's just instant food, I couldn't cook for the life of me. I just carried it. If anything, I miss the fish Tenzo-san used to catch for us, which we cooked on the spit."

"Well," Tsume said, her smirk softening at the edges, "he built the house for us tonight." At the sight of Tenzo's lips twitching into a smile, she quickly added, "perhaps I'll marry you both."

"Double K.O.," Akane whispered to Itachi, at the sight of the two men's red faces.

"Definitely," he whispered back, returning a wan smile.

The room filled with laughter, Tsume's being the loudest. For a time, while they saw to it that their bellies would be filled for the night, they forsook all thoughts of work. Even ANBU needed a clean break from it during their off hours. Besides, for all of Tsume's frequent, inappropriate advances, Shisui knew she still wore her wedding ring on a necklace. Everyone knew.

Humor, though often times either inappropriate or even dark (an occupational hazard, really), was always the trademark of a well-bonded team, Shisui had discovered throughout his years an ANBU team captain. That Itachi had learned to work with it, rather than against it, spoke volumes of his development.

"I won't ask why the hell you'd think to bring cup o' _ramens _on a mission, but thanks," Tsume said, rubbing her stomach as she lay down in her bedroll. "That hit the spot."

"They're light," Shisui said with a shrug, setting down the last cup, which was now empty. "If I have the extra space left after packing everything else, why not?"

"You're a godsend, kid," she said drowsily, and her hand shot up in the air in salute before dropping down. "Tsume over and out."

Itachi pulled up a knee and propped his forearm on it as he stared into the fire. He wondered how Sasuke's training was going, and what Kakashi was planning on teaching his little brother, although he had an inkling. Whatever it turned out to be, he trusted Kakashi's judgment in this. At the moment, he had more sway over Sasuke than him, however much it pained him to acknowledge that truth. Better for someone he trusted to be there for him than no one at all.

* * *

The forest kept its secrets. Whatever the trees had seen, they could not share. Whatever had happened to the border patrol, there was not a single trace left of their passage through those woods. Cold. Tired. Wet. Those words became the norm of each day for team Yon as they combed the area between the two border outposts. By the third day, however, the patrol-men's scent had vanished altogether, washed away by the constant rain.

* * *

Tenzo sneezed and turned in his bedroll, going back to sleep. Itachi paused at the sound, then resumed his work on the report he would send to Konoha in the morning. Would that he had something to put in it. He massaged his forehead with the blunt end of the brush, pleased that at least the activity had beaten his insomnia into submission. The cold and humidity, on the other hand…

"Itachi?" Akane asked softly, holding up her hands in a self-explanatory gesture.

"Yeah," he said, setting aside the brush and paper and readjusting his position slightly as she knelt down beside him.

Akane brushed his ponytail over his shoulder and placed her hands on his back. They were warm, but the _chakra_ emanating from them was almost cool as it seeped through his flesh, into his lungs. He would have likened the sensation to opening a window after a long time and finally getting a breath of fresh air. It was the same every night, which he took to mean his condition was not improving. Not that he could muster the courage to ask Akane, in light of their argument over it, so he merely thanked her when she finished.

"So, what's next?" she asked. "Because you don't seem inclined to give this up just yet, even though we have nothing left to go on."

"There's something the commander of the first border outpost said… it's been on my mind since, and I'd like to check it out before we call it quits."

"Mist and sunny days don't mix, is it?"

Itachi made a soft sound of approval in his throat. His eyes darted to her, looking for the signs of distress he would have expected to see there, only to find none. Her gaze was lost in the crackling fire, her face alight with a golden glow. "It could be nothing," he said, if only to break the silence.

"Of course," she replied, flashing the ghost of a smile at him. "We should both get some sleep, regardless. Climbing mountains isn't for the weary. Good night, Itachi."

He nodded, watching her as she tiptoed across the room and slipped into her bedroll. Though he hoped otherwise, he doubted she would have the luxury of a restful sleep. As for him, he still had a report to finish, so he pulled up the writing instruments and resumed his task.

* * *

Hakuzan rose before them, clad in a shroud of ghostly white. Snow crunched under their feet as they began the ascent, their breaths misting in the frozen air. The forest was suffused in heavy silence, as if winter had smothered it under its blanket. With no path to follow, they trudged on as they could among the tall evergreens.

"You'd think a bunch of holy exorcists would be inclined to pick a less creepy place for their temple," Shisui commented as he paused on a rocky ledge to catch his breath. His eyes drifted up to the top, which for all their efforts in the past few hours, seemed just as distant.

"Do you believe in that stuff?" Tsume asked, cocking her head and placing a hand on her hip.

Shisui grinned, and though it was lost on her because of the mask, she caught it in his tone. "Holiness or exorcisms?"

"Hardy-har-har."

Itachi made his way up to the rocky ledge Shisui was perched on like a hawk, panting. "I don't see any recent signs of passage," he said, in between puffs. "Do you?"

"Nope. Although the snow might have covered them, if there were any to begin with. Are you alright?" Shisui asked, noticing that he was having a harder time than usual recovering from the effort. "Maybe we should stop for a few minutes. The temple isn't going anywhere."

"I'm fine. Let's keep going."

The sun was a pale orb, barely visible through the clouds above. A little after noon, it vanished from sight completely, and the temperature plummeted. Snow began to fall, scarce snowflakes dancing lazily in the air to an unheard tune of their own. The seemingly never-ending slope grew steeper, forcing them to send chakra into the soles of their feet to get a better grip.

"This is a nice hike, but let's do it in summer next time, shall we?" Shisui said.

"Wait 'til we go down. We can ask Tenzo to make us a sledge," Tsume said in good humor.

"I won't be responsible for any broken bones," Tenzo quipped in.

A cold wind blew down the mountain, dusting the snow from the trees in their faces. Kuromaru stopped. Tsume's laughter broke all of the sudden, and she turned to her _ninken_, a cold shiver running down her spine. The rest of the team was quick to notice the look which passed between them, and came to a halt.

"What is it?" Itachi asked.

"I smell blood," Kuromaru said in his gruff voice. Tsume nodded wordlessly, confirming that she could sense it too.

"There's bound to be mountain lions chasing deer, even in this weather," Shisui said.

"Unless your mountain lions slaughtered an entire herd, no."

Kuromaru's reply set them all on edge. Itachi's eyes rose to the summit, where he could see the manmade structure, nestled between giant rocks. He swallowed the knot in his throat and instinctively changed his step to a quieter, more cautious one. The others followed suit, and they became white shadows, moving unseen and unheard through the woods.

Shisui and Itachi were the first to stumble upon the snow-covered steps carved in the mountainside. They waited for the rest of the team to catch up and advanced as one, shifting their positions to battle formation when Kuromaru confirmed the smell of blood appeared to be coming from higher up.

The wind howled distantly in the grey sky above, but only sighed as it passed through the temple's red gates, which were wide open. Itachi was the first in line as they filed through, regrouping into their formation once they were past them. They passed under a covered arch and stepped into the temple's courtyard, where the past rushed to meet them.

Itachi halted, the breath caught in his throat as his _sharingan_ took in the familiar, nightmarish sight. His heart picked up its speed, and though it sent blood rushing through him, he could not feel it for the cold. His eyes drifted over the wires, then over the frozen blood smeared against the white wall and inner row of columns lining the courtyard. Under the fresh layer of snow, there would no doubt be more. He began to count, almost mechanically. _One, two, three…_

Shisui felt something twist inside his stomach. He had seen Juri's wire trap, recreated by Itachi on the training grounds. With a stretch of his imagination, he could have seen it at work on a human body, too. But even if imagining it was not the same as seeing it, it was plain to him that Suisen had loosened his partner's leash. The Spider of the Mist had outdone herself.

…_fifteen._

The monks hanged in Juri's net, with their bloodless faces frozen in agony. The wires were set all around the courtyard, wound around the columns, fixed with _kunai_ to the wall, or the ground itself. A thin layer of snow clung to them, making them easier to follow for the naked eye. Itachi gritted his teeth. He expelled a breath through his nose and looked up at the sky, watching the dizzying flurry of snowflakes coming down, as if it could somehow cleanse his vision of the horrible sight.

He heard movement behind him, and a pained gasp that immediately drew his attention. Itachi spun on his heels, a _kunai _already in hand, though he had sensed no other presence beside their own. A scream tore through the silence, bone-chilling and heart-rending.

Tsume was clutching at her chest, eyes wide open, staring at the scene as she kept on gasping for breath. Her whole body was trembling like a leaf in the wind. She stumbled backwards until she tripped and fell in the snow, her breath coming louder and faster each time. Before any of them could figure out what was happening, Akane crouched beside her.

"Tsume-san," she said, raising her voice slightly to make sure the woman heard her over the sound of her own, now uncontrollably rapid breathing. "Tsume-san, listen to me." Akane removed first her mask, then Tsume's, revealing a face almost as white as the snow around them, twisted into an expression of sheer horror. "You're alright. We're going to be alright. Nothing bad is happening."

But Tsume could not tear her eyes away from the carnage and could barely hear her over the loud sound of her own, pounding heart. Her muscles spasmed and contracted, cold dread taking over, dragging her under. That blood, all that blood. All those people. Dead, frozen, gone forever. Gone in the mist. Turned to ashes. Crumbling.

Akane's hands cupped Tsume's face to gently turn her head, and she shifted her position so as to block the view behind her. "Look at me, Tsume-san. Look into my eyes. Breathe," she said. "Breathe with me now. Follow my rhythm: in and out, slowly."

Tsume's wide eyes stared into her own, her cold hands holding an iron grip around Akane's wrists, long nails digging into her flesh painfully. Akane did not release her head, forcing Tsume's gaze to remain there as she breathed in, slowly, and out, slowly. She could see Tsume struggling to follow. "That's it, Tsume-san, breathe."

"I… c-can't, I c-can't…"

The words came out garbled, and seemed to take all the strength out of the older woman, because she quickly reverted to hyperventilating, squeezing her eyes shut. Akane looked over her shoulder, at the three men who stood there, staring, not knowing how to help. "Does anyone have a paper bag?" she asked.

Shisui blinked in confusion at the request, but slung down his backpack. "I do," he said, unzipping it and rummaging through it to pull out a brown paper bag. He opened it and upturned it, letting the three-color _dango _inside fall in the snow before handing it to her. "Sorry, it's…"

"It'll do," Akane said, snatching it. "Tsume-san, I need you to listen to me. I need you to breathe into this, can you do that for me?"

Tsume's eyes opened, glazed over with tears, and her trembling hands reached for the paper bag, which she shakily placed over her nose and mouth.

"Now try to breathe like me, again, please," Akane said, resuming the exercise. "Nice and slow. You can do it. That's it."

It took several minutes before Tsume's breathing returned to normal. The experience had left her drained and her face was now a blank mask, flushed and wet with tears. She was still shivering, but it was as much from the cold and the effort now as it had been from the fear. Akane stood up, and helped Tsume stand on shaky legs, still shielding her from the bloodied courtyard.

"Tenzo-san, could you take her for a little walk, please?" she asked.

Akane remained with the two Uchihas at the edge of the courtyard as Tenzo, Tsume and Kuromaru left through the gates. The snowflakes were coming down in greater numbers now, and it was nearing dusk. Itachi held off his question until he was certain Tsume was out of earshot.

"Is it possible that the dart she got hit with the first time had anything to do with this panic attack?" he asked.

"It's been months, how could it?" Shisui argued.

"It's entirely possible," Akane said. "It was triggered by the sight of this deathtrap, and back then, shortly before getting hit by the dart, Tsume-san had seen a similar sight. If I remember correctly, she didn't react well to it back then, either. The dreamweed could have affected how she processes this whole thing, having latched on to these sensory markers and created a link to her fear center. One that would not have necessarily formed otherwise."

"So, it could happen again," Itachi said.

"Yes, it could."

Itachi sighed. He turned around to look at the scene once more. Juri had gone berserk here, which meant Suisen had allowed it for a reason. This was an invitation. A dare. The missing _shinobi_ may well have been the lure to get them all the way out here, knowing that this kind of handiwork would eventually find its way to them, even if someone else were to stumble upon it first. This wicked game could not be allowed to continue, but he refused to play by Suisen's rules alone.

**Happy New Year! I hope 2020 brings you all the best.**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a pain to write, for some reason. A few words about it: using a paper bag in a panic attack is a controversial method, especially because panic attacks can be confused with asthma or a heart attack, in both of which cases a paper bag would be a bad thing to use. But I hope no one actually takes medical stuff in fanfics for granted. **

**As for the previous chapter's "challenge", congratulations to nobodysperfect2133, who pinpointed Yui as the abrasive Yamanaka who works for Ibiki Morino (abrasive is a great word in her case, I loved it). **


	24. The Three-Legged Crow

**Chapter 24 – The Three-Legged Crow**

The wind swept over the courtyard, blowing the freshly fallen snow towards the three white figures standing in a circle at the edge. Without the mask on to shield her face from the cold, Akane felt her cheeks growing numb. Snowflakes clung to her eyelashes and she blinked them away, trying to keep her eyes anywhere but on the scene behind the two men in front of her.

"What now?" she asked. "It's getting dark, the weather's worsening and Tsume-san shouldn't be here."

"I agree," Itachi said. "I have a plan. I need you to take Tsume and return to Konoha." He could almost sense Akane's disapproval, but he continued before she could protest. "I spoke to Hiashi-sama a while ago and he agreed to help us stop Suisen. You are to bring him to the first border outpost, where the rest of us will be waiting for you." That seemed to pacify her.

"What about Tsume-san?"

"That decision is up to you, as the team medic. You have my full support, whether you decide she stays in Konoha or joins us for the rest of the mission." Itachi doubted, however, that Akane, or anyone else for that matter, would be able to convince Tsume to stay behind.

"It'll take us several days to get to Konoha and back," she pointed out.

"Not if we summon Yatagarasu to take you there."

"What?! You have got to be kidding me," Shisui said, removing his mask to regale them with an expression of sheer mortification. "After that last time, if the old crow sees me, she's going to pluck out my eyeballs and wear them on a string around her neck."

Akane quirked a brow and looked at Itachi, who seemed to understand what Shisui was talking about, because he let out a sigh. "That was years ago, I'm sure she's forgotten all about it," he said placatingly.

During a mission in which Shisui had taken Itachi with him, both to spend some time together and for the opportunity to teach his young cousin a few new tricks, they had summoned the giant crow to fly them out of a particularly bad situation. Shisui had blown a fireball at their pursuers from the crow's back and accidentally singed her tail feathers, causing them to spiral down from the sky into a rather bad (and certainly painful) landing.

"She only likes to _pretend_ she has a bad memory, you know," Shisui muttered.

"It will be easier if all three of us contribute _chakra_ to sustain her," Itachi argued. "Especially since this is no short trip."

"Fine, fine, I get it. Just… make sure she doesn't go for my eyes, yeah?"

Yatagarasu would never condescend to answer a single summoner's call. Strength in unity was the mantra of the crows, and the oldest of them was the most conservative. It would take two _shinobi_, at least, to summon her, like Shisui had done with Itachi back then. For three of them to do it, it would both please the great crow, as well as spare their _chakra_ reserves.

Shisui seemed disgruntled, but pulled out his _tanto_ nonetheless. Akane and Itachi used _kunai_, and the three of them slashed their palms in unison before placing them on the snow-covered ground. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"_

The three-legged crow, messenger of the gods, servant of the sun goddess, Amaterasu, herself: Yatagarasu appeared before them in a great puff of smoke that billowed in the rising wind – a great beast of a crow, standing on three legs and looking at the world through four, slanted red eyes, two on each side of her head. When she spoke, however, her voice shattered any appearance of majesty.

"What is this?" the ancient crow asked in a voice that may well have belonged to a surly hag, broken and shaky. She cocked her head at the corpses frozen in the wire trap to either side, before turning to the three figures standing before her. "Still at your petty squabbles, I see."

"Yatagarasu-sama," Itachi said in greeting, bowing from the middle in respect.

"Who is this now? Itachi boy, is that you?" Itachi remained perfectly still as a pair of eyes squinted at him from the side of the large, feathered head. "And Aka-chan," the crow rasped, moving her gaze on to Akane, who cringed at the play of words. "And… Shisui boy. Well, well, is this not quite the gathering."

Shisui let out a sigh of relief when the crow's eyes moved away from him and back to Itachi, who seemed the least intimidated by the ancient bird.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"We need your help, Yatagarasu-sama," Itachi said.

The crow cackled. "That was implied."

"Akane and a friend of ours need safe passage to Konoha and back. That's all we ask."

"Ask? All, you say?" Yatagarasu echoed. "The last time someone asked," she said, turning her attention to Shisui, whose blood drained from his face, "I seem to recall losing a few important feathers to a misdirected fire _jutsu_. You are lucky they grew back, Shisui boy, or I would have plucked your eyes out and worn them on a string around my neck!"

"That was p-purely an accident," Shisui mouthed, letting out an uncomfortable chuckle to ease his own nerves, even as he took a couple of steps back.

"I don't use fire _jutsu_, Yatagarasu-sama," Akane intervened, more to help out Shisui than anything else.

Yatagarasu fixed her for a moment before her eyes narrowed. "Indeed, you do not. You are attuned to other natures, though lightning can singe as well as fire."

"There will be no singing of feathers, of any sort, you have my word," Itachi said.

The great crow was silent for a few moments, before her beak opened to pass a sigh. "Konoha, _eh_? Very well. I will grant you this boon. After all, it is a rare treat to see three of you in one place. It warms an old heart. The last time I was summoned by three was…"

Akane flinched. Her father had contributed with the most _chakra_, then her brother, Enki, and finally, herself, with the least amount. She had signed her summoning contract with the crows that day, a present from her father for her seventh birthday, six days before his death in the _kyuubi's_ attack on Konoha. Surely it cannot have been that long ago, she thought, dismissing her own memory of a summoning triad before the thorn of sadness could burrow deeper into her heart. But the crow trailed off, lost in the memory or perhaps unable to retrieve it, and, mercifully, did not continue.

"Yatagarasu-sama?" Itachi asked.

"Yes, yes, always in a hurry, you mortals. Little wonder. Come then, hop on. You are not getting any younger."

Shisui would have scoffed at that if he were not still wary of the old crow and that giant beak of hers. He kept his mouth shut and himself out of the way, and did not rest easy until Yatagarasu's wings stirred a small snowstorm as she took off a little while later, with three figures clinging to her back. A howl echoed across the sky in her wake, overpowering the shrieking wind before fading in the distance. It seemed Kuromaru hated flying almost as much as he did, although who in their right mind would enjoy it in this weather, Shisui thought humorlessly.

"We don't have enough storage scrolls for all the bodies, even with the ones Akane left us," Tenzo said, answering a question Shisui had not heard, in his distraction.

"Then we start making our way back now," Itachi decided. "We'll send someone to retrieve them all when we get to the border outpost."

* * *

"I would hang on if I were you, the wind is something wicked tonight," Yatagarasu croaked, angling her wings to make the descent down the side of the mountain as safe as possible for her wards. "I will not be responsible if you fall off my back, although odds are you will freeze first, and then you might shatter when you hit the ground. In any case, try not to fall."

"Is she always like this?" Tsume whispered through chattering teeth, holding on to a bunch of feathers with one arm and wrapping the other one around Kuromaru, who was hiding his head in her cloak. The ends of her spiky hair where white with frost from her misting breath.

Akane's body was racked by a shiver. "More or less," she said.

"I am hard of head, not of hearing!" the crow retorted, prompting Tsume to clamp her mouth shut before the giant bird decided to throw them all off her back. "Speaking of heads, how is that knuckle-headed brother of yours, Aka-chan? Not dead, I hope. I have not seen him in years."

"He's retired from active duty."

"_Eeeh?" _Yatagarasu queried loudly, turning her head.

"Retired from active duty!" Akane repeated, trying to cover the wind shrieking in her ears. The crow had caught a whisper just moments before, only to make her repeat herself now. Perhaps she liked to pretend to be hard of hearing, as well as forgetful, when it suited her.

"A most sensible choice," Yatagarasu said. "I would not have thought him capable of it."

Akane's free hand worked furiously to tame the hair billowing about her face as snow and icy wind lashed at her cheeks mercilessly. Tsume had burrowed her own face in the glossy, black feathers.

"I always did tell your father Enki was no good, trembling at his own shadow all the time instead of taming it. Better for him to quit trying to be something he could never dream to become. But your father was foolish, girl, do you know that? He lived like a fool, with his heart of gold, and he died like a fool, in selfless, but senseless sacrifice."

Akane raised her head against the gale, pretending the stinging haze in her eyes was caused by that, instead. A different kind of cold began to flow through her veins and creep under her skin. "My father died protecting Konoha," she said icily.

"Your father died trying to restrain a creature far beyond his ken or mettle, along with your mother and many others, and you're a fool, just like him, if you believe it was Konoha he was protecting."

A tear ran down her cheek and she could almost feel it freeze there. She sucked in a breath, and the cold must have been messing with her senses, because she heard the words roll out of her mouth one by one and she did nothing to stop them. "I _am_ Konoha. We are all Konoha." _We protect one another,_ she thought mirthlessly, looking at Tsume.

Yatagarasu cackled, and though the sound of it was lost in the howling blizzard, Akane could feel its rumble through the ancient crow's back, underneath her. Trembling like a leaf and more tired than she had felt in a long time, she lowered herself down, flat against the faint warmth radiating from Yatagarasu's body. Although the night would be long, there would be no sleep for any of them.

* * *

"Again."

Hanabi activated her _byakugan, _pulled back her arm, drawing air into her lungs at the same time. She held it for a moment, then expelled it along with a burst of c_hakra_ through her palm as she struck the target in front of her, splintering the wood clean through this time.

"Better," Hiashi said. "But next time, use more _chakra_ instead of relying on brute force. It's called the Gentle Fist for a reason."

"Yes, father."

Hiashi crossed his arms and watched his youngest daughter continue her training in the middle of their private training ground. The morning was overcast and cold, a thin layer of frozen snow crunching underfoot. Hanabi had already gone through half the targets in the past hour, and splinters dotted the ground all around them. Half more to go and then they would retreat inside for a break before commencing her _taijutsu_ training.

He was overseeing his daughter's next attempt when something in the distance caught his eye: a black dot against the leaden backdrop of the sky, seemingly moving at considerable speed. His right hand locked in a seal as he sent _chakra_ to his eyes, activating the _byakugan_. Hanabi sensed the power surging through her father and looked at him, nonplussed. Following his gaze, she saw what appeared to be a large, dark bird rapidly approaching the Hyuuga compound.

"Father?" she asked, suddenly feeling uneasy.

Hiashi did not reply. The two of them stepped back as a giant crow swooped down to land in the middle of the training ground, sending gusts of icy wind at them as the great wings flapped closer and closer to the ground. Hanabi stared at the crow's three legs and four eyes, and swallowed the lump in her throat. Her muscles remained tense, ready to fight or flee, whichever her father commanded. To her surprise, however, three figures descended from the bird's back, and her father's _byakugan_ faded.

"Go inside, Hanabi," he said.

"Yes, father," she replied, still glancing over her shoulder at the curious sight as she did his bidding. She saw him dismiss his alerted guards before she slipped inside the _dojo,_ not even daring to peek, as she would have liked.

The Inuzuka woman stayed behind with her _ninken_, as her shorter companion stepped forward. Hiashi had recognized her, so there was no need for her to remove the ANBU mask, but the Nara woman did so anyway. She then angled her body forward in a neutral bow before speaking.

"Good morning, Hiashi-sama. I apologize for coming unannounced."

"You all seem to think wearing that mask gives you the right do so," he replied acidly. "But since the Uchiha boy has sent his runners to fetch, instead of a message, I assume this means you have finally come across my brother."

The Nara woman appeared unfazed by his demeanor. "In a manner of speaking," she said. "But you are correct, Hiashi-sama. We have come to ask for your help, as per Uchiha-_taichou's _orders."

Hiashi's eyes narrowed. "In a manner of speaking? Explain yourself."

"It's his partner's work we came across during one of our investigations," she replied evenly, "but we believe Suisen was the mastermind behind it, and regardless, they work as a team. If we find his partner, we find your brother."

"So, you have no idea where Suisen is," Hiashi concluded, "yet you expect me to leave my duties here behind and join you while you blunder about in the dark, for who knows how long?"

"It is my understanding, Hiashi-sama, that you had an agreement with Uchiha-_taichou_."

"That does not put me at his beck and call."

Akane steeled herself, holding on to what little of her patience remained after a sleepless night spent flying through a blizzard. "Your brother is part of a criminal organization comprised of S-class missing-nin and is considered a threat to Konoha. With your help, we may find him sooner, rather than later, and put an end to this once and for all."

"This is the first I hear of a criminal organization," Hiashi said, taken aback.

"It's classified information. I take full responsibility for disclosing it to you."

_What have you done, Suisen?_ Hiashi wondered, stunned into silence. It was one thing to stand accused of doing unsightly mercenary work as a rogue-nin, and a whole other thing to be part of organized crime. No wonder the ANBU was so determined to capture him. The situation was more dire than he had thought, damn the Uchiha for misleading him by omission. "I want to know more of this," Hiashi told Akane. "You may wait inside while I get ready, and then you can tell me everything on the way."

Akane inclined her head in agreement, then watched Hiashi turn on his heel and vanish inside the Hyuuga mansion.

"Was that wise?" Tsume asked quietly, standing beside Yatagarasu with her arms folded against her chest.

"I can't be the judge of that," Akane admitted, "but Hiashi-sama needed to know the truth of what he's getting into. He would have found out anyway, sooner or later." He had been right, too, they could hardly have expected him to leave his duties behind on such short notice without a pressing reason. She could not afford to second-guess herself now, and in any case, that boat had sailed. She still had one more thing to do. "Tsume-san…"

"No."

Akane blinked, taken aback by the curt reply. "I haven't said anything yet."

"You didn't have to. I know what you were going to say, and the answer is no. I'm not staying."

Akane sighed, although in her tiredness she could not help but notice the irony of the situation. It was like dealing with her past self, and she suddenly had a newfound appreciation for Itachi and Kakashi, who had put up with her nonsense when she had been at her worst. She prayed to be able to demonstrate the same patience and wisdom in this as they had. "Tsume-san," she said calmly, "what happened on that mountain was not your fault, but it may happen again."

"It won't," Tsume insisted. "I will not be a liability, I swear. I don't know what came over me then, but I refuse to be left behind over it. I will not cower in Konoha while the rest of you are out there, risking your lives!" She checked herself, stopping for a moment to modulate the volume of her voice, which had inadvertently gone up. "Did Itachi put you up to this?" she asked, fighting to remain calm.

Itachi had known, Akane thought as she felt her own resolve weaken. He had known Tsume would be difficult in this. She hoped he had a plan, because she did not feel up for yet another difficult negotiation. Her head was pounding as it was. "He left it up to me to decide, and I don't believe you should put yourself through this."

"And you should?" Tsume argued, crossing her arms. "Get off your high horse, princess, you're just as fucked up as me, if not worse."

"_Oi, oi, _that's more than enough, Tsume," Kuromaru interceded, to no avail.

"What do you think it will be like to look the monster who hurt you in the eyes?"

Yatagarasu craned her neck in the silence which ensued. She then cocked her head, making note of the gleam in the little _kunoichi's _eyes, and the slight trembling of her hands as she put on her painted fox mask with slow, deliberate moves.

"I have thought about it," Akane said quietly, "every night since then. But he is no real monster. He is made of bones that break and blood that spills, same as me. Do as you will, Tsume-san. I won't stand in your way."

Kuromaru sighed, and was almost relieved to see Hiashi coming out of the house, clad in _shinobi_ attire and sporting a Konoha _hitai-ate_. The two _kunoichi_ stepped away from each other and climbed on Yatagarasu's back without another word. The _ninken_ followed them up reluctantly, padding along the crow's lowered wing. Hiashi jumped up to settle beside Akane, and the bird lumbered in an upright position before taking off with multiple sweeps of her dark wings.

* * *

Shisui watched another crow take to the sky through the window of their shared room within the border outpost. Itachi had been sending off birds all day, alerting nearby stations to be on the lookout for the two Akatsuki. He had even sent some to their own contacts in the surrounding villages and towns, trying to cover as large an area as he could. After the show they had put on for them, Suisen and Juri would not have simply vanished. All they needed was a pointer in the right direction.

A chill wind blew through the top of the tower, where Shisui had spent the last couple of hours staring at the sky towards Konoha. He blew some air into his hands and rubbed them together. Luckily for him, the _chuunin_ guards stationed up here to survey the area had climbed down for dinner and he had finally been spared their curious stares. He tensed as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs, only to relax at the sight of Tenzo and the steaming cup he held out.

"Thanks," he said, too glad for something to warm his hands on to even mind that it was tea.

"You're welcome. Any sign of them?"

"Not yet, but I expect they should be here soon. The crow may be ancient, but she's a fast flier, so unless they encountered some other setback… ah, there they are."

Tenzo squinted at the darkening horizon, but could see nothing yet. Regardless, he trusted Shisui's _sharingan_ to cover a much greater distance than the naked eye. "I'll go let Itachi know."

Shisui nodded, and raised his mask to sip from the tea, only to make a face at the taste. Truly, it was no good for anything other than warming his hands. His eyes drifted to the sky once more, watching Yatagarasu's dark figure grow larger with each passing moment. It appeared there had been no singing of feathers after all, he thought with a smirk. When he judged he would be down in time for the arrival, Shisui jumped over the railing and gracefully landed on the grass beside Itachi and Tenzo.

"Welcome, Hiashi-sama. I apologize for summoning you on such short notice," Itachi began as the head of the Hyuuga clan descended from the Yatagarasu's back.

Shisui watched the two of them disappear inside the tower together, under the _jounin_ commander's vigilant gaze. Tenzo and Tsume followed suit, with a sullen Kuromaru at his mistress' heels. All but one had gone inside. He turned his head and saw Akane bowing to Yatagarasu.

"Thank you, Yatagarasu-sama," she said.

"Up, Akane girl," the crow commanded in her wizened voice, then cackled. "Your father did raise one _shinobi_, after all."

Shisui smirked and approached her as Yatagarasu vanished in a cloud of smoke. "You passed her test," he said. "Congratulations."

"What test?" she asked, nonplussed, turning around to face him as she rummaged through a pocket to produce what appeared to be a pack of cigarettes.

Shisui shrugged. "That's for me to guess. All I know is that you went from Aka-chan to Akane girl. I'd call that an improvement."

Akane scoffed as she lit a cigarette and blew out the smoke into the cool night air. "Good to know I did at least something right." She noticed the look in his eyes and quirked a brow, but offered him one, too, which he promptly took and lit up. "They're bad for you, you know," she said.

Shisui choked on the smoke and made a face at its overly sweet cherry flavor. "Said the kettle to the pot."

"Nothing like a little hypocrisy to spice up my personality."

He threw his head back and laughed. "So, which one of them pissed you off?" he asked. "Because I've noticed that your odd sense of humor tends to surface when you're bothered."

"How observant of you. All of them. They took turns, at least."

"Well, since none of them appear to have been run through with the Chidori, or are even in the least bit singed, I'd say you've held up admirably."

"Thanks, Shisui-san," she said. "I appreciate it."

"That's what friends are for."

Akane blew out a plume of smoke and looked up at him in surprise, half-expecting him to deliver the rest of the joke at any moment. But there was kindness in his smile and the playful light in his eyes had softened. She scoffed at her own wariness and graced him with a tired smile of her own before her eyes flitted up, at the star-filled sky. Hard to believe it had been filled with storm clouds just one night before. Tonight, at least, she would finally be warm and get some well-deserved sleep.

**Aka-chan means infant, baby.**

**Yatagarasu is a mythical Japanese creature, representing the sun. It is a large crow (its name means "eight-span crow") known as Amaterasu's messenger, and it does have three legs (not the four eyes I added, though), which are said to stand for heaven, earth and humanity (hence, all three come from the sun). The three legs are also said to represent the three virtues of the gods – wisdom, benevolence and valor. **

**If anyone is up for another small challenge, I'm curious to which of our three crow-summoners you would assign each virtue as representative. I don't think there's a right answer to this, just so you know.**


	25. Wicked Eyes

**Chapter 25 – Wicked Eyes**

Juri finished laying down the last of the tripwire and wound its end around the previously fixed _kunai_, then checked the explosive tag attached to it once more before standing up. She brushed the snow off her cloak and looked up at the bare branches arching above to form a dark web of their own against the pale sky. Snowflakes swirled down lazily from it, slowly adding to the already ankle-deep layer on the forest floor. She watched them for a time, let them cling to her hair and melt on her face. She could hear her own heartbeat in the silence.

Until another sound rose from the quietude. One most unexpected. Juri's head snapped around, listening to the faint echoes until she was certain it had not just been her imagination. It was, without the shadow of a doubt, the distant sound of a bamboo flute. She retraced her steps, maintaining a steady supply of _chakra_ in her feet to keep herself above the snow without leaving any footprints. Sneaking on her way back to their camp was more out of habit than anything. Heavens knew she had never been able to catch her partner unawares, and she expected the music to stop with every step that brought her closer to him.

It did not. When Juri stepped beyond the tree line and into the small clearing, Suisen was sitting on a log, one ankle resting casually on the opposite knee. He did not even look up at her, seemingly lost in the ghostly melody his fingers were extricating from the dark flute held up against his lips. She leaned against a tree and folded her arms against her chest. Even as she rubbed at the goosebumps rising on her skin, she blamed them on the cold.

Juri could not tell for how long she stood there, listening. While she watched him play, he looked almost serene, like those few times she had ever caught glimpse of him asleep. It was only when Suisen stopped that time felt like it started flowing again, but also as if some magic had gone from the world. When he opened his eyes, however, they were as cold and guarded as ever. He had been aware of her presence, just not cared that she was there.

She had often wondered at that flute, which he carried around in a storage scroll, along with the rest of his personal items, and which he sometimes brought out, when they camped at night. Not to play it, never to play it – for as long as she had known him, he had taken it out only to admire it thoughtfully in the firelight. Juri's curiosity about the object had waned after a time, when it had become clear to her that Suisen would not indulge it. However, she could feel it stirring again now.

"You've been carrying that thing around for two years and I haven't heard you play once," Juri said.

"Fourteen years," he corrected her calmly. He had owned it for even longer than that. His thumb rubbed against the small carving of the Hyuuga clan's symbol, feeling its groove under the layers of lacquer.

"I never took you for a sentimentalist."

Suisen thought of all the times he had wanted to smash it. As a member of the branch family, who lived only to serve, he had been taught to play the flute for the entertainment of the main family members and their guests. The flute was the only thing from his past that he had taken into the future with him, on that final mission out of Konoha. As much as he resented it and what it stood for, he had not wanted his family to have it, either. He had never thought he would play it again, had sworn to himself he never would.

But today, for the first time in his life, Suisen had played for himself. The flute had felt strange in his hands after all those years, but also familiar. The song he had made up, because he could not remember any from his childhood. At least he had forgotten those. None of them would have worked out, anyway. After all, today was also probably the last time he would get to play the flute.

"Perhaps you never really knew me," he told Juri, tucking the flute into the folds of his cloak.

"_Che_," she scoffed. "So melodramatic." Yet part of her knew Suisen was right. She only knew as much of him as he had allowed during their two years working together. But he, like the rest of the Akatsuki, had never really judged her for fighting her way out of the system which had sought to use and then crush her; for losing herself in the thrill of taking a life, of making them see and pay for the world they sustained, although others had built it before them. The dead, unfortunately, could only be blamed, not punished. Suisen understood her drive and in return, she respected his boundaries. The mutual consideration had made their team one of the Akatsuki's least dramatic partnerships.

"How much longer do you think we'll have to wait?" she asked. "Should I gather some firewood?"

Suisen had kept an eye on the mountain temple after they had turned in the monks' purifying stone for the bounty to complete their mission. Juri's spiders had feasted on Konoha _shinobi_, while they waited for the Hokage to send the right ones. In the meantime, the two of them had completed other tasks from the list Konan had given them. There had been no reason to rush the whole thing. After all, drawing the ANBU in was half the fun. Their efforts had paid off, eventually.

"That won't be necessary," he said.

The previous day, they had allowed themselves to be seen by a passing border patrol. In such matters, at least, Konoha was efficient. The alarm would have been raised by now, the message, sent, and the ANBU squad, on the move. With the Inuzuka tracker on that team, the pursuit would not be taking much longer, by his calculations. No sooner had he finished mulling over that thought, however, than a familiar feeling tugged at the edge of his awareness.

Juri noticed the sudden change in Suisen's expression and saw the veins around his eyes bulge under his skin to feed the _byakugan_ as his hand formed the activation seal. She opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking twice about interrupting him now. She could tell something had not gone according to plan, which was bound to vex the control freak in him. Instead, she was surprised to see the corners of his lips twist upwards.

"Your work on those traps has been for nothing," he said.

"_Eh? _Why?" she could not help but ask.

His lips pulled back to reveal his teeth in a wolfish grin. Juri felt a cold shiver run down her spine at the sight. She had never seen him so thrilled.

* * *

Hiashi stopped dead in his tracks. The gasp which slipped past his lips misted in the air and seemed to hang there for the longest time before dispersing. His heart had jumped into a frantic rhythm, the thrumming of which he could feel in his throat. He had thought himself ready, but only now realized nothing could have prepared him for this. It felt as if he were looking at a ghost. Worse still, the ghost was looking right back at him.

Behind him, the five ANBU halted as well, and only one of them walked up to stand by his side. Itachi did not need to ask, or even guess at what Hiashi's _byakugan_ had seen. He pretended not to notice the Hyuuga's unguarded expression and gave the man a few moments to recompose himself.

"It's them," Hiashi said, at long last. "Ten miles ahead. The surrounding area is riddled with traps."

"We were expecting that to be the case," Itachi said. He had spent an entire evening discussing things with the Hyuuga: about Suisen, about Juri, about the Akatsuki. He had sworn him to secrecy and finished what Akane had started. If Hiashi were to join them in combat, he could not be kept in the dark about the enemy's methods.

"He knows I'm here," Hiashi added in a low voice, incapable of uttering his brother's name. "And it seems they've changed their plans accordingly. They're moving toward us."

Now that each team had eyes on the other, subterfuge was hardly an option anymore. The element of surprise was lost to both. Itachi could not remember ever coming face to face with an enemy like this. Moreover, the last time they had encountered Suisen and Juri, he had been the only one to actually fight one of them. Their numerical advantage did little to set his mind at ease, and as much as he would have liked to feel more confident in Hiashi's hold over Suisen, something the Hyuuga had said had rubbed him the wrong way.

_They're moving toward us._ If Suisen knew Hiashi was with them, he should have started running in the opposite direction instead.

Their group was on the move again, so Itachi quickened his pace to catch up with Tsume and Kuromaru, who were second in line after Hiashi. She had brought them all the way out here, tracking Suisen and Juri's scent from where they had been spotted by a Konoha patrol, until they had come close enough for Hiashi's _byakugan_ to intercept them. Tsume looked at him as she ran, waiting for his orders.

"You are to stay back and watch over Hiashi-sama," he told her quietly. "If anything should go wrong, I need you to get him away from the fight. We'll cover your retreat."

There was a moment's hesitation before she answered, and he could tell she was displeased, but she confirmed nevertheless.

Tsume was his second-in-command, but Akane had failed to convince her to stay behind and there was no telling what would trigger her next panic attack, so Itachi judged it safer if she remained out of combat this time. However, he could not have told her to simply watch from the sidelines, and he did need someone to entrust with Hiashi's safety. Another thought lingered at the back of his mind, more prominently than ever before: Tsume was also the only parent on team Yon. If something were to happen to her, Itachi would never forgive himself.

He fell back, but matched Akane's pace instead of resuming his position within the formation. Unlike Tsume, she did not meet his gaze. "Will you be alright?" he asked.

"Yes."

There had been no hesitation from her, yet instead of reassuring him, her curt reply only unsettled him more. For all the progress Akane had made, and the fact that Ibiki had eventually cleared her for field work himself, Itachi dreaded to think of the pressure this confrontation would be putting her through. People under pressure were often volatile, and he had never been good at gauging her reactions to begin with.

"Do you trust me or not?" she asked, noticing that he was still not leaving her side.

"You know I do," he said softly. _That doesn't mean I don't worry about you. _But he left it at that and returned to his position. Akane was shutting him out, and Itachi had grown unused to it in light of their growing friendship. Perhaps he was projecting his own insecurities onto her because of that.

* * *

In the still air, snowflakes kept on falling. The world was reduced to the white of snow and the black of bare, dormant trees. To silence. To biting cold. There were no paths to be followed in the quiet heart of the forest, miles away from the nearest hearth. But they were _shinobi._ They needed none. In the end, they found one another.

Pale eyes met from opposite edges of the clearing. For the first time in fourteen years, they looked at each other without needing their _byakugan _to cross the distance for them. To Hiashi, it felt no less like seeing a ghost than before, and although the initial shock was wearing off, something akin to sadness was creeping in to take its place. In his mind's eye, the gaunt man's face overlapped with that of the teenager who had walked out of the compound all those years ago, never to return. The one he had thought dead all this time.

"Suisen," Hiashi said, his voice on the verge of breaking.

But Suisen did not deign to reply and his eyes only held Hiashi's for a moment before moving on to the figure standing beside him. "You play dirty, Uchiha," he said to Itachi. "I admire that."

Itachi's _sharingan_ was blazing red, having already taken in all there was. What he could see strengthened the doubt which had taken root within him earlier, upon Hiashi's mentioning that the enemy would be meeting them head on. Suisen was leaning against a tree, arms folded against his chest. Standing by his side, Juri looked almost bored. He did not take his eyes off either of them as he addressed Hiashi. "Something's not right," he whispered. "He's too at ease."

Hiashi understood what the Uchiha was suggesting, but it was impossible. The _juinjutsu _branded on the branch family members' foreheads could not be removed. "He's bluffing. I thought it would take an ANBU to know one, but I seem to have been mistaken," he replied sharply. "I'll deal with this. Stay out of it."

"Hiashi-sama, we've talked about this before," Itachi said, "and in light of the current situation, I cannot let you-"

"Let me?" Hiashi repeated through gritted teeth. "You misunderstand my position here, Uchiha. I am not one of your cronies. Suisen is mine to deal with."

The heated exchange appeared to amuse its subject. "I see you took father's lectures on responsibility to heart," Suisen said, pushing himself off the tree. "Come then, settle this. Put me back in my place, like he did back then. You remember how it's done, don't you… _nii-san_?"

Hiashi's jaw clenched and guilt coiled in his belly like a venomous snake. The image of a brown-haired child writhing in pain on the ground, screaming from the pain caused by the _juinjutsu's_ activation, flashed in his mind. He did not remember how old they were when kindness and curiosity had prompted him to challenge his youngest brother to a sparring match after watching him train on his own. He had not expected Suisen to land a single hit, let alone a _juuken_ strike to his kidney. Their father, who had witnessed the whole scene, had punished Suisen for that by giving him a taste of the cursed seal's power. Hiashi had only pissed blood for a week.

The memory had been burned into his mind. It had surfaced when he had been forced to activate Hizashi's seal, all those years ago, and it was haunting him again now. "I remember," he said. "I don't want to use it, Suisen, so don't make me. Surrender, and you will not be harmed."

Suisen's eyes moved to the shortest of the six _shinobi_ standing before him. He could not currently see behind the painted _kitsune_ mask, and most of her body was wrapped in a white cloak, but the effect of his gaze on her was still noticeable in the way she shifted, as if to remove herself from it. "That one wants to see me suffer," he said with a smirk. "I'd hate to disappoint."

Juri noticed the current focus of her partner's attention and realization washed over her in a heated wave of wrath. "You let her live?!" she asked. Her voice cracked like a whip in the silence. "You're dumber than a snot-nosed _genin_!"

Suisen glowered at her over his shoulder, his eyes narrowing to dangerous slits. "Be quiet," he said under his breath. The tone alone was enough to subdue her, and Juri flattened herself against the tree with a quiet scoff and a spiteful glare. Suisen turned his attention back to the Konoha _shinobi_. "I will not bend to your will," he told Hiashi.

"Then you will break," Hiashi replied, steeling himself for the inevitable. He stepped forward and brought up his hand to form the required seal before Suisen had a chance to move out of its range. He saw his little brother tense and felt his own _chakra_ connect to the seal hidden behind Suisen's slashed _hitai-ate_. The Uchiha had been wrong, he thought.

But instead of screaming in pain, Suisen sneered.

Hiashi stared in disbelief as his little brother's hands rose to undo the knot of his _hitai-ate_. He then pulled it from his head with a single, fluid move, revealing the cursed mark on his forehead. Instead of green, however, it was black.

"Orochimaru took care of it a long time ago," he said. The _Sannin_ had been unable to remove it, but he had managed to inactivate it. He had explained it would no longer react to _chakra_, like it was supposed to, although Suisen had not entirely trusted his word. _Only a fool would trust that snake._ Still, he had been itching to test it all this time. It pleased him to know the cursed seal did not work, but more than anything, he reveled in the look of utter bewilderment on his brother's face.

Hiashi's hand dropped at his side and clenched into a fist. "I gave you a chance," he said. "But I see I must put you down like the rabid dog you have become."

Itachi gritted his teeth. Sometimes he hated being right. "Hiashi-sama, please stand down," he said. "We'll take it from here."

"This doesn't concern you, Uchiha," Hiashi told him, stepping away from the five ANBU behind him. He thought about it for a moment, then cast a look at Itachi over his shoulder. "I thought you of all people would understand: I must do whatever I have to."

Itachi expelled a long breath through his nose and nodded. At the same time, his hand went behind his back and formed a signal for his team, letting them know of the change in plan. Hiashi may well be a stubborn, proud fool, but he was a skilled _shinobi_, head of the Hyuuga clan, and years older than Suisen. Whatever advantage he could buy them, Itachi would accept.

Suisen picked up his discarded _hitai-ate_ from the snow and tied it around his head as Hiashi stopped a few feet away from him. A faint breeze sighed through the trees, roiling the swarms of snowflakes coming down from the sky. Their _byakugans_ clashed almost simultaneously, laying each other bare down to the core. A moment later, their _juuken_ strikes connected in a draw, sending a pulse of energy around them halfway through the clearing.

Juri sneered, more interested in the fight than in the eyes she could feel watching her warily from the other end of the clearing. Like them, she had been ordered not to interfere, and for the first time, she preferred it this way. There was some enjoyment to be found in watching Suisen lose himself in a fight, for a change.

Hiashi's strikes packed more _chakra_, but Suisen was nimbler and utterly relentless. For all his patience and finesse, Hiashi found himself quickly losing ground to his little brother's barrage of _juuken_ strikes. He had expected anything but this. Suisen owned up to having been likened to a rabid dog earlier – he was fighting like a madman. He had not landed a hit yet, but then again neither had Hiashi, because he was too busy parrying to strike back himself. If he did not change his approach, his little brother would soon be gaining the upper hand.

"Is this the Hyuuga clan's great legacy?" Suisen taunted, only narrowly avoiding an attempt at the _tenketsu_ in his shoulder.

His disregard for the danger of Hiashi's strikes was an insult in itself, but Hiashi could not afford to lose focus over something as trivial as that. The past fourteen years spent away from the clan had denatured Suisen's Gentle Fist to something still familiar, but wild and wholly unpredictable, tainted by outside influences over his _taijutsu_ style.

"Are you the heir father wanted or the one he deserved?"

Hiashi leapt backwards with surprising grace and eased into the right position for the Eight Trigrams, his eyes trained on Suisen's _tenketsu_. He prepared to deliver the first set of strikes, but before he could close the small distance between the two of them, his brother slammed his hands into the ground and raised a wall of earth and snow. An Earth-style technique would not be an impediment for long against the secret _taijutsu_ technique passed down from one clan leader to the next, so Hiashi used the first four sets to carve his way through.

Suisen managed to parry only fourteen strikes of the fifth set. The last two connected. Hiashi was about to continue with the final set, when a sharp pain shot through his arm all the way up to his shoulder. It caused him to gasp in surprise, rather than from the pain itself, which quickly devolved into a tingling numbness. His eyes fell on the grip Suisen had on his wrist, and the two fingers jabbing into his now unfeeling flesh.

"I see nothing has changed," Suisen said. "You're as slow as ever."

Hiashi understood then. Suisen had allowed those last strikes to land so that he could gain a hold on him and deliver one strike of his own. It had had sufficient _chakra_ in it to damage one of the main pathways in his arm, and all the _tenketsu_ along it. He had been fast enough to take advantage of the slight pause between two sets of the Eight Trigrams.

"All this time, I've been training and fighting, while you were beating up little girls."

Hiashi yanked his arm free from Suisen's grip and pushed his uninjured one forward to emit a powerful wave of _chakra_ through the _tenketsu_ in his palm. "_Hakke Hasangeki!"_

Through the light of his own _chakra_, Hiashi saw Suisen begin to rotate. _No_, he thought, _that can't be right._ But his eyes were not deceiving him, because he next felt the whiplash of his own attack as it bounced off the _Hakkeshou Kaiten. _When his body hit the ground, he did not feel it. The crippling pain caused by his own, backfired _jutsu_ had been enough to overpower the impact. He stared at the sky, and thought it to be similar in color to his _byakugan_. To Suisen's, too. His little brother, who knew two things he should not have. _How many more?_ Hiashi wondered as that same sky darkened, along with the rest of the world.

Suisen stopped spinning the moment Hiashi's body flew backwards to slam against the ground like one of Sasori's broken puppets. He dashed forward, already molding _chakra_ in his hands to finish what he had started, when a wooden wall suddenly rose between them and his movement was brought to an abrupt halt by a shadow on the ground. Pain finally bloomed in his solar plex, sending lingering echoes upwards throughout his entire chest from Hiashi's two strikes. He detected a metallic taste on his tongue and his lips tilted upwards, into a smile.

"Get him out of here, _now,_" Itachi commanded under his breath.

Tsume and Kuromaru were quick to respond, darting to collect Hiashi before sprinting away into the woods with him slung over the _ninken's _back. As Itachi and Tenzo barred Suisen's path, Akane released him from the shadow _jutsu_ and spun on her heel to catch up with Tsume.

Juri stepped forward to join the impending fray when the third remaining ANBU mirrored her movement.

"There: an Uchiha for you, and one for me," Suisen said.

She took the hint and immediately redirected her gaze to her opponent's feet, not wanting to repeat last time's mistake. She did notice that he was not the one from back then, however. After a moment's thought, Juri decided that she did not really mind. Any Uchiha would do.

**I just pulled an all nighter on this because I couldn't get it out of my head and I realized after posting the chapter that I forgot to leave a note. This is that note: to thank you for taking part in the challenge - it was great reading your thoughts. I am grateful to see so many of you are invested in this story. I hope I don't disappoint. As for the romance... it'll make it's way through all the drama at some point, I promise.**


	26. Tensenrin

**Chapter 26 – Tensenrin**

The cold air seared its way down her throat and into her lungs as Akane ran, following the distant sound of an erratic heartbeat. Tsume would stop anytime now. They had put enough distance between them and the clearing, and the others would never allow Suisen and Juri to follow them. Tsume had to stop. Even she must have realized the condition Hiashi was in after that backfired _jutsu_, the massive damage that it had dealt to his body.

_Please stop now,_ she thought.

And, mercifully, the faint sound of that heartbeat started growing louder. Akane pushed _chakra_ into her legs to slow the formation of lactic acid in her muscles before speeding up to close the remaining distance between them.

Tsume had just finished laying Hiashi down on her cloak from Kuromaru's back when Akane arrived. The scent of anxiety that clung to her was enough to set the Inuzuka on edge, too, but she kept her comments to herself. Akane scuffed through the snow as she threw herself down on her knees beside the unconscious Hyuuga, green _chakra_ alight in her palms and entering his system a mere moment later.

Hiashi's final _jutsu_ had been meant to kill. He was lucky not all the _chakra_ in it had reflected off Suisen's defense in his direction; some of it had been thrown off by the grace of inertia from the rotation. Even so, it had ravaged through him, dealing damage to his soft tissues all the way down to individual cells, like he had been through a storm of microscopic needles of his own making. Ironic, how the very energy which sustained life could be turned against itself to deal death instead. _Shinobi_ were a sum of contradictions, after all. Perhaps humans had never been meant to mold _chakra._

* * *

Juri could not afford to look up, but she could almost feel the _sharingan_ watching her. She wondered if this was what prey felt like under a predator's gaze, like possessing some preternatural sense of danger. She would never know, because she was not prey. One hand rose to her chest and the other arm straightened up in the air as she molded _chakra_ around herself. There was enough humidity in the air to draw upon, which made things easier.

Shisui was on to her even before the humidity around them began to coalesce into the opalescent mist Kiri-nin were infamous for employing. _Oh, no you don't, _he thought, as his hands formed the seals and he drew air into his lungs. _Fuuton: Taifuuikka! _The gust of wind he blew out through the small mouth hole in his ANBU mask not only dispersed Juri's incipient mist, but also made it clear that it would be pointless to attempt the concealment technique while he stood on the battlefield.

Juri had to break the _jutsu_ to shield her face from the lashing wind, and only lowered her arms once the gale subsided. Of course they had brought along a Wind-style user this time around, she thought with a scowl. The other Uchiha had clearly not found throwing fireballs blindly at the mist as entertaining a sport as she had dodging them. Unfortunately, it also meant she would have no reliable means of protection from that accursed _dojutsu_ of theirs.

Suisen reassessed the situation. Without her mist concealment, Juri was too exposed, and that called for a change of plans. Before his own opponents could engage him, he repositioned himself between Juri and all three Konoha-nin. "Formation B," he told his partner. He then turned sideways, bent his knees and extended his arms, visualizing the field of divination around him.

Itachi recognized the pose Suisen was taking as the one Hiashi had assumed not long before, except the number of palms he called out was double. Before he had time to issue an order, Suisen launched himself upon them, delivering a whirlwind of _juuken_ strikes which he split among the three of them in a mad dance of wicked grace.

Behind him, Juri was busy herself. She had created two water clones to aid her and the three of them were seemingly throwing weapons everywhere but at their opponents. The two Uchihas made note of the attached wires and realized she was building a trap around them, but Suisen was keeping them too busy for them to deal with that at the moment.

While their _sharingan_ enabled them to dodge the _juuken_ strikes, Tenzo had to resort to other means, and over thirty consecutive hits caught him mid-_jutsu, _causing him to stumble backwards, stunned. Shisui cursed under his breath, blurred through the seals while dodging the Gentle Fist and used his Body Flicker technique to set himself between Suisen and Tenzo before transporting the latter out of the Eight Trigrams' range, to safety. He had painstakingly avoided tripping any of the wires, but Itachi would have to deal with Suisen, because Juri needed attention, too.

"Are you alright?" Shisui asked Tenzo, while his eyes analyzed the web of wire around them and his mind worked on how to best disable it.

"Slightly… out of breath," Tenzo said in a strangled voice, clutching at his chest. He gritted his teeth at the sharp pain which accompanied each breath, along with the constant one in his arms. He could see now why the Hyuugas were known to be fearsome fighters. The number of strikes was not as important as the amount of _chakra_ in them and which _tenketsu _they targeted. While his regenerative abilities should kick in soon enough, he feared they would not extend to his _chakra_ circulatory system.

Juri was about to weave another wire into the mesh when the tall Uchiha suddenly appeared in front of her. Simultaneously, her water clones splashed out of existence as the same Uchiha struck them down. She pulled out a _kunai_ just in time to parry his _tanto_ and grinned, struck by a sudden revelation, which had been prompted by the fact that he appeared to be in multiple places at once.

"I know who you are," she said. "Shisui the Teleporter. You made quite the impression on Ao, years ago. In that case…" _Tiger, Ox, Tiger, Rat._ She formed the seals singlehandedly, kneading _chakra_ in her stomach. _Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu!_

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu! _Shisui countered the torrent of water gushing from her mouth with a roaring fireball, causing steam to blow out between them with a loud hiss. As an S-ranked Kiri-nin, her Water Style was more powerful than most, packing the punch of almost three regular casters of the same _jutsu_ combined. It did not matter. Shisui judged it would still not be enough.

Suisen scowled. Itachi had dodged every single one of his _juuken_ strikes, although he had been unable to retaliate. He was about to do so now, however, because Suisen could feel the tendrils of a _genjutsu_ creeping into his skull, seeking to perturb his _chakra _flow. Had Hiashi not warned the Uchiha that a Hyuuga could not be so easily seduced by the _sharingan?_ Had he decided to protect the family secrets, even if it meant placing others at risk, instead? Or perhaps he had warned him, and the Uchiha had not trusted him. Both possibilities amused him as he regulated his _chakra_ flow to dispel the _genjutsu_.

"They'll use you until there's nothing left of you," he told Itachi after finishing the final set of one hundred and twenty-eight palms. "And when you're dead, they'll rip the eyes out of your cold skull and use those, instead."

Instead of replying, the Uchiha launched into the sequence of hand seals for the signature _jutsu_ of his clan. Suisen dashed backwards from the ensuing flames. At the same time, his _byakugan_ enabled him to notice that Juri was having trouble against the same technique at his four o'clock. He immediately rushed to her side and added his own _Suidan no Jutsu _in. Their joint effort successfully extinguished Shisui's fireball.

"They're too well coordinated," Itachi told Shisui. "He covers for her at every turn. We need to separate them. Also, _genjutsu_ doesn't work on him."

"Then I can't risk wasting a _Kotoamatsukami_," his cousin said. The three _tomoe_ in his eyes began to spin, merging into the black pinwheel of the _Mangekyou_. "Not on him, at least." His jaw clenched as pain shot up his optic nerve, exploding in the left half of his head. Blood pooled in his eye and ran down his cheek.

Behind the slowly dispersing steam left in the wake of their elemental _jutsus_, Suisen took a moment to catch his breath. The pain in his chest had dulled to a lingering ache, but the damage was there. On top of the physical injury, the _tenketsu_ Hiashi had hit were almost completely blocked, and other pathways were bearing the brunt of redirected _chakra_ on top of the normal flux. It made molding it more difficult, beyond simply painful.

Juri retrieved a small scroll from the folds of her cloak and rolled it open, pushing _chakra _into the storage seal inscribed on it.

"Are you finally getting your shit together?" Suisen asked her, only to notice a subtle change in Juri's _chakra_ flow. His instincts kicked in at full speed and he jumped back just as his partner swung her large, circular sword at him. Getting nicked by Juri's _Tensenrin_ was the last thing he needed, and boy, did that edge gleam. He focused most of his attention on dodging it and occasionally parrying with a _kunai_ when pressed, using the rest to assess her state.

She was clearly under the influence of a _genjutsu,_ but it was like nothing he had encountered before. While subtle, its influence was too powerful on her for the usual means of release to work – it affected not only the _chakra _flow in her central nervous system, but also the peripheral, which meant she would not register pain. The only thing he could think of that could work might also kill her if he was not careful.

He ducked as the _Tensenrin_ swung around over his head, only for Juri to land a kick in his ribs, followed by a second rotation. Pegging her for a long-range fighter because she preferred wasting her time on stupid traps was often the last mistake their enemies ever made. The truth was that she was just as deadly at close range. A pity she had been forced to throw away the element of surprise by chasing him instead of them, he thought as he jumped away.

His displeasure turned to surprise when roots sprung from the frozen ground and through the snow to wrap around his feet, almost causing him to lose his balance entirely. He barely had time to realize it was the bug-eyed Konoha-nin's doing when the _Tensenrin_ came for him. Suisen managed to shift in the _jutsu's_ hold, causing the blade to slash down his upper arm instead of burying itself into his shoulder. He was getting tired.

He gritted his teeth as blood soaked through his shirt and cloak. The flow was steady, at least, which meant she had not gone deep enough to nick an artery. In any case, he was running out of time faster the _genjutsu_ appeared to be wearing off. Whatever the outcome, he had no choice. Suisen sent _chakra_ into his hands, sharpening it to cut through the roots holding him in place. Instead of avoiding Juri, however, he circled around her and slammed his right hand into her back, pushing his own _chakra_ into the neural pathways to dislodge the _genjutsu_. It would leave her unable to use _chakra_ for days while she metabolized his… that was if she even lived.

Itachi heard Shisui curse as Juri's body hit the ground, her odd choice for a sword falling in the snow, beside her.

Suisen noticed _chakra_ was still flowing through his partner and assumed she had made it, so he interposed himself between her and the enemies to make sure they would not take advantage of her state and nullify his efforts in keeping her alive. He then ripped off a piece of his cloak to hastily tie below the gash in his arm, which was bleeding profusely.

Tenzo gasped and coughed, even though it sent shrill pain through him. His hands were trembling and _burning_ after having molded _chakra_, and when he looked at them, he saw coin-sized, raw spots dotting his flesh. Lifting his sleeves, there were more going up his arms. Trying to mold more _chakra_ was probably not a good idea. He was about to rub some snow over his flesh to dull the pain until his regenerative abilities reactivated when Akane knelt beside him, quiet as a shadow. He had not heard her coming.

"How's Hiashi-sama?" he asked as she went straight to business with the healing.

"He'll live," she said.

Itachi was looking at Suisen, who had just finished pulling on the ends of the fabric strip with his teeth. "Now's our chance," he told Shisui.

"Double the firepower?" Shisui asked in a humorless tone. He then flickered across the clearing to get behind Suisen, while Itachi dashed forward, to his front. The hand seals were already done by then, and they had synchronized down to the last one.

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!_

Their two techniques collided from opposite sides in a whirl of fire which swallowed Suisen whole. The heat blasted against their faces even with the distance between them and their target, but it was not until it became nigh on unbearable that they realized it was coming back towards them in great, scorching waves. Itachi jumped back out of its range and it dissipated, allowing him to see Suisen's blue chakra fading as he slowly stopped spinning. Fortunately for them, they had been at a greater distance than Hiashi when Suisen had used the same _jutsu_ to counter his. However, the Hyuuga was panting now, a sheen of sweat glistening on his face. Producing a larger _Hakkeshou Kaiten_ to cover Juri as well had seemingly taken its toll.

Itachi pulled out the sword from the sheath strapped to his back and lunged for him. He had been biding his time for this moment: waiting, watching, learning. He was the most rested out of the three of them. Tenzo had taken multiple _juuken_ strikes and Shisui had already used the _Kotoamatsukami_. He was the one who could press the advantage now.

Suisen darted left and armed himself with a _kunai_ to fend off Itachi's blade. His left arm was growing numb from the makeshift tourniquet, but it had slowed the flow of blood. He could still keep this up for a time, even though the Uchiha was giving him no room to breathe. Those red, glowing eyes, so unerringly seeing through his every move made this fight rather one-sided in offensive.

Shisui was about to join Itachi in his endeavor when something moved at the edge of his field of vision. _What is it with Kiri-nin and oversized weapons?_ he wondered, not even willing to go into how Suisen had somehow managed to break his _Kotoamatsukami_.

Juri picked up her ring blade from the ground, leaning on it as she straightened up to look at the Uchiha. Hell was burning in her eyes and searing in her soul. _Fucking dojutsu users_, she thought, partly aiming that thought at her partner, as well. She could feel his slimy, cool _chakra_ in her system and although she could not remember what had happened, it did not take a genius to guess. She kept her gaze fixed on her opponent's chest and threw a handful of _shuriken_.

Shisui dodged with ease and was quick to realize Juri had not expected them to hit – or rather, that he had not been the target. The star-shaped weapons latched on to the remains of her disabled wire trap and she pulled on the metal strings attached to the _shuriken_, recalling them towards him. His _sharingan_ could make no sense of whatever she was attempting, as both wires and _shuriken _fell harmlessly around him, tangled and useless. Even while pondering the possibility that Suisen had hit her hard enough to addle her brains, Shisui could not help but be suspicious. He began forming the hand seals for his Body Flicker when something felt wrong.

His hands were not moving fast enough somehow. When he looked at them, he noticed the pale, delicate strands laced over his fingers. Spider silk. Juri had lined the wires in her unfinished trap with spider silk and when she had pulled it towards him, the lighter-than-air threads had been carried by the movement to land on him even as the metal wires had fallen around him. So, 'Spider of the Mist' was not just a figure of speech, he thought as he tested the silk by moving his fingers. It was sticky, resistant and only mildly yielding – a substance most likely produced by a summon. It would slow him down. Without a second thought, Shisui removed his white cloak.

"Too slow!"

He barely had enough time to block her sword with his _tanto_, since his movement was still restricted by the spider threads on his hands and legs. He had to use the _Kotoamatsukami _again. Perhaps a second attempt from Suisen to wake her from it would kill her, since whatever he had done cannot have been entirely harmless the first time. He was about to focus on it when Juri suddenly looked up and spat through the left eye hole in his mask. For some reason, it burned, and his eyes both shut on reflex.

Juri took advantage of that split second to overpower his _tanto _by tipping it to one side, effectively breaking the deadlock. She then brought the _Tensenrin _around and in an upwards arc of delicious, glimmering crimson. _Truly a sight for sore eyes_, she thought, licking her lips. Her opponent staggered backwards, one hand flying to cover the weeping gash across his chest. With the other, he removed his ANBU mask and threw it away to wipe furiously at his left eye.

Shisui saw Juri coming with his right eye. She bore a malevolent sneer on her face and the edge of her sword was coated in his blood. Ruby drops flew through the air as it came for him and he clenched his jaw, forcing his burning left eye to open. The blood which trailed down both his cheeks felt hot in the frigid air. Pain exploded in his head first, then every cell in his body picked it up. Juri's sword clanged against a rib of the green, skeletal form taking shape around him. The luminous fissures it produced were quickly covered as the _Susanoo's _body fleshed up and armored itself.

Suisen avoided the flame-coated _shuriken_ whizzing through the air towards him once, and then again when they changed their trajectory. The Uchiha was keeping him busy from the front as well, but his _byakugan_ had seen them coming. All but one, which he only felt when it imbedded itself in his back, having come in through his blind spot; not deeply enough to cause any serious damage, since he always took care to push cushioning _chakra _through that particular spot, but still.

The Uchiha would certainly make a mental note of that, he mused, plagued by an ever-growing sense of frustration. He was an S-ranked, former ANBU, a Hyuuga with at least a decade's worth of experience over him… and yet he was losing ground to him. Hiashi would be amused, and their father would certainly strike his name from the family tree, if he had not done so already upon hearing of his endeavors over the past fourteen years.

In an attempt to buy himself more time, Suisen produced a smoke bomb of his own making from one of the pockets in his cloak and threw it at the ground. It would not counter the _sharingan _for long, and his own eyes were already feeling the strain of _byakugan _overuse. As the cloud enveloped them, he focused on his opponent, having noticed a small disturbance in the _chakra_ flux around his right lung. At a closer inspection, the underlying cause became all too clear. All it needed was a little encouragement.

Itachi strained his eyes against the impenetrable smoke, already making for a quick retreat, when Suisen materialized beside him and jabbed two fingers into his side. The effect was almost instantaneous. The burning sensation which had been gradually building up in his chest from the cold air and the sustained effort exploded in a fit of coughing. He stumbled out of the cloud, coughing into the crook of his arm. Blood glistened, wet and stark red against the white of his cloak.

He saw Suisen coming, tendrils of smoke curling in his wake. He raised his sword to parry, but the fit was not subsiding and he was getting dizzy from the lack of air in his lungs. His vision doubled as Suisen's _kunai_ clanged, only for him to retreat a few feet immediately afterwards. Itachi had not felt the impact. He was surrounded by something green and transparent and his stomach churned as he realized what it was: the fist of Shisui's _Susanoo. _And Akane was in it, with him.

Healing _chakra_ flooded his system, soothing its way down his throat, into his airways and the tissue of his lungs. Oxygen rushed into him and went straight to his head, adding to the dizziness for a brief moment before that, too, subsided. His voice was coarse from the coughing when he spoke. "Report," he said to her.

"Hiashi-sama is stable. Tenzo won't be able to mold _chakra_ for days. Shisui took a hit, I need to get to him when I'm done here."

"I'll cover you."

Suisen was grateful for the respite, truth be told. A thread of blood tickled as it ran down his wrist and along his fingers before dotting the snow. He scuffed with his foot to cover it and tightened the cloak's sleeve around his wrist with a piece of metal wire. It was already soaked through halfway. Fortunately, it did not show against the black and red pattern, and the sleeve was long enough to cover his swollen hand, by now likely purple from the tourniquet.

His eyes went past the two ANBU currently shielded from him, to the large, phantom figure surrounding the third. He had seen one before. An image flashed in his mind, of a lone Uchiha facing a small army of Iwagakure _shinobi_ in the middle of a field which had been burned down to ashes. The monstrous, ethereal being which had enveloped him and the carnage left in his wake. Juri was bashing her sword against _that. _If he had not been so tired, he might have burst into laughter.

Instead, he saw the _chakra_ surging in the red _tomoe_ inscribed on the fiend's chest and rushed to Juri's side. He got there in the nick of time, hardly having launched into the _Kaiten_ rotation when the monster unleashed a barrage of _chakra _needles at them.

It would be his last _jutsu_. His _chakra _reserves were nearly depleted. Suisen had not expected to see the end of today, not without dragging at least one of them down with him. Even his brother would live to see another day, courtesy of a certain medic-nin he had been neglecting. But perhaps not all his efforts had been in vain, he thought as he finished the final rotation, looking at the pale Uchiha inside the green giant.

"I think I've earned a treat, after everything you've put me through," he told Juri.

"Don't whine," she snapped. "I can't use _chakra_ because of you." Her hand disappeared inside the cloak nevertheless, rummaging for a bit before pulling out a small syringe filled with colorless liquid. She then unceremoniously stabbed it into his upper arm.

**This chapter was a nightmare to write. I imagine it wasn't easy to read, either, so I apologize and I hope you still enjoyed it. I was going to tell you all about my grievances with it, but there's no point in whining. In the end, I tried my best.**

**Whose _Susanoo_ do you think Suisen remembers having seen once?**


	27. A Promise Made

**Warning: the **_**shinigami**_** have been watching this fight, as well. They're about to claim their due.**

**Chapter 27 – A Promise Made**

In the stillness, a heartbeat echoed. Akane had been monitoring it for the past few minutes, keeping it at the back of her mind while using the Mystical Palm on Itachi. Forcing cells to replicate, differentiate and grow to perform their function in a manner of minutes was no trifling matter. Yet for all the concentration the technique demanded of her, she would have been a poor medic if she did not possess the ability to multitask. Luckily for them, Shisui's _jutsu_, whatever it was, had provided much needed cover for the moment.

"Breathe in deeply," she said, and Itachi conformed. "Now out, slowly."

The air hitched and he felt it rumble somewhere in his right lung. Akane's hand moved over that spot and cool _chakra_ seeped in to dissolve the small blood clot partially obstructing one of his airways. After a few moments, he repeated the exercise at her behest and his breathing was normal again. Or so it felt.

There was lingering damage in Itachi's lungs that would only mend in time and for all her skill, Akane could not do anything about whatever harm Suisen's Gentle Fist had done to his _chakra_ pathways. She wrapped it up, nevertheless. Judging by the state of their enemies and knowing Itachi, her efforts up until now would do. They had to. The regular beats at the edge of her awareness were slowly gaining in tempo. She could sense their mounting urgency beckoning, demanding her attention.

* * *

_Drip._

Red bloomed on glimmering white at his feet. His breath quivered as it came out of his lungs to mist in the frozen, still air. On its way in, it carried a metallic scent. His left cheek was coated in warm blood, yet his right one was cold.

_Drip, drip._

Shisui removed the trembling hand he was holding over the gaping wound across his chest and shoulder. It was painted in slick, dark red. It had soaked through the dark undershirt and stained the front of his ANBU vest. His _sharingan_ could see the fibers engorging as they absorbed the blood, _his_ blood, like blotting paper soaking up ink. His left arm was tingling, his fingers were already cold and numb, deprived of their supply.

Every fiber of his being ached, as if each _chakra_ needle in the volley his _Susanoo_ had unleashed upon the enemy had been torn and shaped from his very flesh. His head was swimming and despite his best efforts to anchor himself, his legs gave out under nothing but his own weight. Shisui collapsed on one knee, gasping for air. More blood splattered on the snow. His vision doubled and blurred. The _Susanoo's_ armor retracted.

* * *

"I have to go."

Itachi sensed the dark undercurrent in Akane's voice, nodded and rose to his feet. The _Susanoo's _fist felt like a tingling against his skin, its energy making his hair stand on end. However, something had changed about it over the last few moments. Looking at the ethereal avatar, he saw what had alerted him: its armor had gone, exposing the construct's flesh. It was not as much the regression which worried him as what had caused it, because even in its humanoid form, nothing could get through the _Susanoo_.

Then he saw Shisui down on one knee inside it.

Akane dashed out of the _Susanoo's _protection, and Itachi fought down the shiver of dread creeping into his bloodstream. He needed a clear head; he could not afford to feel, could not keep his heart. He turned his gaze away from Shisui, toward the enemy. In a battle, medic-nin were a prime target. The only thing he could do to help Shisui at the moment was keep Akane safe. As he made up his mind, the _Susanoo's _fist vanished.

Suisen untied the knot of the tourniquet, which had accomplished its purpose. Losing the arm for keeping it bound for so long seemed inconsequential judging by how things were progressing, anyway. The bleeding would stop soon, and although he had lost enough blood to make his head spin, it would not be more of a danger now than it could have been. Juri had almost been his undoing - a feat she would have never managed in different circumstances, damn the Uchihas.

He saw the medic sprinting out of the green avatar's cover shortly before it disappeared altogether. Her captain moved to get between her and them, correctly anticipating his intent. Not that it would matter. Suisen had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. Even in his state, one Uchiha would not stand in his way. "Another Uchiha for you," he told Juri. "Don't fuck up this time." Without waiting for her reply, he pushed himself into a full-speed sprint.

Itachi saw him coming and met Suisen half way. They clashed in a blur of weapons clanging and pure _taijutsu, _both of them fighting with renewed strength. However, for all his verve, Itachi felt his opponent was not engaging him wholeheartedly. When Juri came in from behind her partner to cover his escape, he understood why. It had been a feint. Before he had time to reengage him, Suisen had already gone after his real target.

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!_

Itachi's volley of small fireballs flew after Suisen, who only briefly paused to deflect them with his _kunai_. None found their mark this time. What Itachi believed to be a blind spot in the _byakugan's _extensive field of vision kept shifting as Suisen moved to strike each of his _shuriken _down, and Juri was keeping him too busy for him to fine tune their trajectory. As Itachi turned to catch up with Suisen and stop him, Juri's sword veered and only narrowly missed him. He had shifted his stance at the last moment, courtesy of the _sharingan_ anticipating the hit, but it became clear that she was not willing to let him disengage.

His one remaining option for quickly dealing with Juri was _genjutsu._ The fact that she was avoiding his gaze was insignificant, but she could not have known that. He molded _chakra _and gathered it in the tip of his left index, then pointed. She paused, eyes glazing over for a moment before her face twisted into a scowl and Juri bared her filed teeth at him.

"You bastard," she said in a tone low as a growl, trying to come to grips with the splitting headache now ravaging through her brains. "_Kusogaki!"_

Itachi's heart sank as he ducked to avoid her subsequent retaliation. He had felt the impediment the moment he had attempted to alter her _chakra_ flow, and had known the _genjutsu_ would not ensnare her mind. There was another _chakra_ in her system, one which her body did not use and would not permit an illusion to take hold. So, this was how Suisen had broken Shisui's _Kotoamatsukami, _with no regard for his partner's life. What was worse: his gamble had paid off.

The snow crunched under Akane's feet as she ran. At this point, leaving footprints was the least of her worries. She could hear the sounds of weapons clashing behind, albeit dim compared to the two hearts pounding in her ears, louder than the rest: Shisui's and her own. The green avatar looming ahead was now stripped of its flesh, down to no more than a spine and ribs glowing around him. Shisui was trying to stand, and failing.

"Don't move!" she called out to him as her eyes fell on the dark snow at his feet.

"Behind you!" Tenzo shouted as he started running towards her.

Akane sensed the presence which had materialized seemingly out of thin air in her proximity, but did not have the chance to react. She felt a hand enclose around her wrist and was whirled her around with such force the air stopped in her throat. It remained trapped there for the longest moment as she looked up into a familiar pair of pale eyes, her every nightmare over the past months come to life.

"Did you think I'd forgotten about you?" Suisen asked in a quiet voice.

Her mind came to a screeching halt at the sound of it, darkness all-encompassing, static drowning out her senses.

Suisen saw the bug-eyed Konoha-nin running towards them from behind and smirked. He turned the _kunoichi_ around like a puppet and secured her against himself with his left arm, then raised a _kunai_ and placed it at her throat.

"Not another step," he warned.

Tenzo halted, a bead of sweat rolling down on the side of his face. He could not mold _chakra_ and he was still too far to have any chance of preventing Suisen from drawing the blade across Akane's throat.

Her skin was crawling as if millions of ants were spreading out underneath it from his touch. She was breaking into a cold sweat and shivering, every muscle tense, paralyzed with fear. She could not even let go of that one breath. It was suffocating her. _Do something_, a small voice at the back of her mind begged. _Anything. _A single tear formed in her left eye and seared against her cheek as it fell.

Suisen's grip on her was firm, adding to the unbearable pressure in her chest. His body was radiating warmth against her back. A wave of nausea roiled in her stomach as his breath blew against the shell of her ear, and her body shuddered with revulsion. Itachi had once cast a _genjutsu _on her, in which he had recreated Suisen. Perhaps she would have never managed to break free from it, had it not been for that touch to tip her off. The real Suisen's touch was burned into her skin; an invisible, yet inimitable scar.

For all its firmness, however, his hold felt wrong somehow. Lulled out of its stupor by that idle observation, Akane struggled to pursue it to its source. _He hasn't secured my hands,_ her numb mind formulated. A _shinobi's_ hands were more dangerous than any blade. Suisen was too calculated to have made such a grave mistake, but he had succumbed to hubris and committed an even worse one: he had overestimated his effect on her.

As that realization set in, the tension in her muscles began to wash away under a spell of numbness. Her jaw clenched as fear and revulsion turned into wrath. Every moment of pain, every tear and every scream in the night fanned its flames now. Something stirred within her, dark and consuming. Her trembling hands formed the seals, harnessing that power and bending it to her will. She was not a helpless target. She was a _shinobi._

_Chakra_ crackled in the air, a thousand birds suddenly screaming in the electrical discharge she released from her body all at once. Driven by impulsiveness and unpracticed, the modified _Chidori_ zapped her too, but she barely felt the sting of its burns on her skin as Suisen released her and air rushed into her lungs. Akane whirled around to face the monster who had haunted her day and night, already starting a second set of hand seals.

"You cast me into the darkness," she said, unflinching under his pale gaze, "but you had no idea who I am." Her hands locked into the Rat seal and her voice resounded in the clearing as a warning to her teammates. "_Kage no Mai!"_

Suisen saw her shadow darken and twist, nine tendrils springing forth from it in all directions, writhing like something from a nightmare. He had worked with Naras during his time in Konoha, but he had never seen anything like this _jutsu. _He leapt backwards once, twice, and was about to do so again when the shadows caught up with him. One of the tendrils latched on to his shadow and his body froze. To his left, he saw that Juri had been ensnared in the middle of a _Tensenrin_ swing by the same _jutsu_, which now spanned almost the entire clearing. For a few, impossibly long moments, none of them moved.

Akane steeled herself. Sensing that none of her teammates had been trapped, having stopped moving at her warning as they had practiced so many times, she channeled her fury and her _chakra_ into taking the Dance of Shadows to its final level. She focused on the shadow-tails which had stilled upon trapping the enemy and pulled at them with all her might.

Suisen felt himself being swept off his feet by nothing tangible - by nothing more but his own shadow. The cold air whistled in his ears as he was dragged across the snow-covered ground and then flung into a nearby tree like a rag doll. The impact knocked the breath out of his lungs and a sharp pain shot through his torso as several of his ribs cracked. He fell on the ground, gasping for air like a fish out of water, struggling to get up as the shadows released him. He failed.

Akane spun on her heel to face the momentarily stunned Suisen, muscles tensing for the sprint as she gathered _chakra_ in her hand. The _Chidori_ chirped and crackled, its blue light making the snow glitter around her, even as the arcs of electricity zapping from her palm towards the ground caused it to melt. Her mind was all too quiet, entirely focused on the kill, but her heart was howling with unbridled rage. It clouded her vision and drowned out everything else, until there was nothing left of her but anger.

Yet in that deafening silence rose the sound of a struggling heart. It brought Akane to a standstill as she was about to take her first step. For the briefest of moments, she was torn. Suisen was down on the ground, defenseless, and the _Chidori_ was chirping in her hand, crying out for his blood, for vengeance, for death. Shisui was behind her, his heartbeat signaling distress.

Kakashi's voice echoed in her mind. _Your choice between a life to take and a life to save?_

Another tear rolled down her cheek as she recalled her answer. _It's not a choice. Saving a life is my duty. _Akane curbed her ire and the _Chidori's _light faded as she turned away from Suisen. At the same time, the _Susanoo_ vanished from around Shisui. She rushed to him through the snow, forcing herself to shift her focus on the task at hand and ignore the pain of walking away from the one person in the world she wanted to destroy.

* * *

Shisui was almost as pale as the snow around them. He cracked a wan smile as Akane lay down her cloak for him to lie on. Her eyes quickly took in the gash which extended diagonally from the left shoulder down to the base of his sternum. Juri's sword had cut through a few superficial veins, but had not reached deep enough to deal any damage to more important vessels, which was why the amount of blood Shisui had already lost puzzled her. _Chakra_ glowed in her hands as she began the standard procedure for this type of wound, one of the most commonly encountered in the field.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," he said, looking up at her.

Meeting his gaze, Akane noticed something that further raised concern. His left eye was still bleeding, but the other one was not and the trails of blood on his right cheek had dried. Although not much time had passed since his fight with Juri, the wound on his chest showed no signs of hemostasis having even begun, as would have been normal. His body was reacting as if it were aware of the blood loss, but not the wound itself.

"Don't move and try not to talk," she instructed calmly, letting none of her worries slip through, to the surface. Juri had clearly coated her sword with something, most likely an anticoagulant, though it did not explain the absence of the vascular spasm. At the first sign of bleeding, the smooth muscle in the walls of the affected vessels should have contracted. It had not.

"I happen to be terrible at both those things," Shisui said.

Akane cast him a reproachful look and kept one hand on his chest, healing, while the other rummaged inside the pouch attached to her hip. She extracted a syringe filled with a transparent, yellow liquid – an antihemorrhagic agent to force the onset of hemostasis, and administered it while she worked on boosting his platelets and stirring them out of their stupor. She began to realize that there were a lot fewer of them than there should have been, and most of the ones remaining were misshapen, with an abnormal structure.

"Did something happen to your left eye?" she asked, filled with a growing sense of suspicion.

"She spat in my face," he said with a weak chuckle. "Had quite the aim."

Her heart sank as realization set in. She turned her head to the battlefield and saw Itachi preparing to tackle Juri, who had already risen from the ground. Even from across the clearing, Akane could tell that the blood coating her weapon looked freshly spilled. "Don't let that blade cut you!" she shouted at Itachi.

"Figured it out, have you?" Juri shouted back. "For all the good it's gonna do you!" she added, then threw her head back and laughed. The sound of it cracked like a whip. The only dose of antivenom she had had on her, she had already given to Suisen. Even if they did catch her and forced the venom out of her saliva, they would never get the antivenom's formula and make it in time.

When Akane turned her gaze back to Shisui, she saw the understanding in his eyes. Of course, he had been clever enough to realize why all on his own. "Spider venom, is it?" he asked in a low, strangely calm tone.

"I'm going to lower your heart rate to slow the blood loss," Akane said, noticing that the antihemorrhagic agent was, indeed, not working. "You might get dizzy and feel something like pressure in your chest."

He huffed, watching the small breath cloud in the frozen air and disperse. "I see your bedside manner hasn't improved," Shisui told her, pale lips curling into a smile.

"You're right," she said, "I'm sorry. Yes, it's… it must be venom. I can slow down the bleeding, but without the antivenom…"

He closed his eyes and paused for a moment to recompose himself. "I understand."

Growing up as a _shinobi_ had made Shisui ponder his own mortality often throughout the years. His father had died. His mother had followed him. Losing a teammate had awakened his _Mangekyou_. Many in his generation had not lived past twenty years of age. Death had been all around him, watching, waiting. Now his turn was coming. Perhaps if he had been in any pain, he would have felt it looming over him, but Akane had taken that away and so… it felt almost surreal. The one thing he could feel was the biting cold…

… and the anguish of leaving behind the one person that death had not seen fit to take away from him, the only one he had left to love. Itachi would never know just how much. It tore at his heart like nothing ever had, clawing away at his determination like a maddened beast. He had kept it locked away in that secret place inside his heart, tormenting himself for years. Perhaps Tsume had been right and he had been wrong in depriving Itachi of his choice, for fear that choice would hurt him. Now it was haunting him all the same.

Shisui bit his lip. "Akane," he said.

She took off her mask and looked at him. He appreciated the gesture more than she knew. It would be nice if the last thing he ever saw was a friend's face instead of an ANBU mask. He hesitated before speaking.

"Tell Itachi…" His voice lost its strength and she bent down for him to whisper in her ear. When he finished, she straightened herself back up and he smiled at the look of surprise written so plainly across her face.

"How…?"

"Trust me, you'll know," he said softly. Akane nodded uncertainly, and he glimpsed a shadow of sorrow cross her face for the briefest of moments before her training kicked in and chased it. "There's one other thing," Shisui added, watching her carefully. Her lips pressed into a thin, pale line as she picked up on the undercurrent in his tone, but she bent down to listen again. Halfway through she pulled away, and this time he saw the hurt in her eyes.

"But that will-"

"Please," he said. "Promise me."

His head was swimming. He could feel neither his arms nor his legs. His vision blurred and then cleared as he forced whatever little of his _chakra_ remained into his eyes to maintain the _sharingan._ He could have used a _genjutsu_ on her, some dark part of him thought as she put off her reaction. It would have broken his heart to do so, considering what it would force her to do and the fact that he was about to ruin her pristine record, anyway. To his relief, however, one of her hands rose up to form a seal.

"I promise," she said.

A murder of crows descended upon them, their cawing and flapping wings filling his ears as they swirled around them in a whirl of darkness. Instead of tears, he cried blood.

_I'm sorry, Itachi._

Light faded and all that remained to him was the sound of the black birds flying in circles.

_I'm getting tired now._

A warm drop fell on his face from above, and then another. He smiled.

_I'm going to rest for a little bit…_

* * *

Itachi pushed off Juri and drew back. He heard the Scattering Thousand Crows _jutsu_ break behind him and glanced over his shoulder as the black birds flew towards the sky, released. He had wondered what that had been all about. He saw Akane standing, her face pale and her eyes red-rimmed. He saw the blood drenching her hands and forearms. He saw Shisui lying at her feet, still and bloodless under the crimson streaks across his cheeks.

_No medic ninja shall ever stop medical treatment until the lives of their party members have come to an end._

At first, he did not understand what his mind was trying to tell him. Then he refused, rejected the very idea of it. He could not be. Shisui would never. No. Something inside him broke. His eyes burned. He heard Juri's battle cry as if in a dream, felt his body turn to face her mechanically, almost against his will, because he could not tear his gaze away from Shisui. But then it locked on to her instead and a sharp pain flared up in his right eye. Something warm ran down his cheek.

Juri's battle cry turned into a scream of agony that tore through the deafening silence. Her sword fell in the snow as black flames enveloped her, and she collapsed, writhing and howling as she burned.

Itachi gasped and his hand flew up to his eye as the pain spiked and shot through his head along the optical nerve. He drew in sharp, cold air, teeth clenching as he held back a scream of his own. The pain in his head was nothing compared to the one in his heart.


	28. Become the Beast

**Surprise!**

**Chapter 28 – Become the Beast**

The black flames continued to burn long after Juri had stilled. Snowflakes vanished in the fire's blistering heat, and the blanket of snow around her blackened form was hissing, evaporating before even turning liquid. Itachi stared into the dark fire, just as still as the charred corpse that would soon be no more than a pile of smoldering ashes.

Something in him had fractured so irreparably that nothing could cross the gaping chasm which had split him in two. It was like looking at the world through the eyes of a stranger, stranded, separated from himself. Itachi Uchiha was in agony inside. The ANBU captain was on the outside, his face just like the mask, expressionless and crimson-streaked.

_the blood on Shisui's cheeks_

He wanted to scream. To rage. To cry. The need to let himself manifest, to let all that pain out into the world was almost, almost overpowering. His lower lip trembled. His numb fist clenched, nails digging painful crescents into the flesh of his palm.

_Almost._

He could not, would not let it go. The bridges inside him were burning and his hands unclenched, suddenly powerless. Itachi the _shinobi_ stood his ground and saw the pain safely contained on the other side of the abyss, merely the subject of careful observation. His lungs were aching. He realized he had been holding his breath for a while now and drew in sharp, frozen air, sucking it in greedily through the holes in the mask.

_he was breathing and Shisui was not_

His mind flexed like a well-trained muscle, attempting to subdue the wayward thoughts, to drive them deep down, under, beyond the chasm and its burning bridges, into the part of him that blackened and withered with grief even as he watched.

_the part of him that felt like joining Shisui in death_

Not here. Not now. The fight was not over. They were not yet safe.

Itachi turned away from the crackling black flames. The first thing his eyes fell upon was Shisui's ANBU mask, discarded in the snow. The red markings on it had drawn his gaze like a beacon and there, it lingered, tracing the contours and slopes of the design: a weasel, of all animals. A weasel, he mused. But the pain flared again at the thought, the heat of it crossing the chasm. Itachi pushed it back and looked away.

He noticed Tenzo standing a few feet away, wary and tense judging by posture alone, because he was still wearing his mask and his expression was concealed in its darkness. "Captain, we have a problem," Tenzo said, a hint of concern slipping into his tone, an echo of what his body language had already conveyed. "Suisen is…"

"I know," Itachi said, and he did. He had noticed, with his _sharingan_, that what appeared to be Suisen's crumpled form, lying in the snow under the tree Akane's _jutsu_ had smashed him against, was not the real one. At some point, he had created an earth style shadow clone to replace him. That clone was melting on the snow now, brown mud tainting the white. Still, it did not give Itachi pause.

"Bring Tsume and Hiashi-sama here," he commanded. "We'll hunt him down." Suisen was now alone, tired and injured. He would not be much of a problem anymore and he could not have gotten far. "Akane, you'll stay with-" Hiashi, he had meant to say. _Shisui_, that distant part of him had thought. But Itachi looked around and was unable to find the person whose name he _had _uttered. "Where's Akane?" he asked.

Tenzo picked up Itachi's earlier movements, looking left and right and all around them, but it quickly became as clear to him that they were alone now. The last time Itachi remembered seeing her was… _no._ He pushed at that image, too, banishing it from his mind's eye. It did not matter, anyway. He knew where she had gone. Guilt and apprehension rose from the smoke of the fires burning within his heart, but on the surface, safe and guarded, Itachi the ANBU captain felt only the shiver of betrayal.

_Do you trust me or not?_

"Which way did she go?" he asked Tenzo. This time, to ensure Suisen and Juri would not separate them again, Tenzo had used his _Soushinki._ Each of them had swallowed one of his tracking seeds a few hours before, when Hiashi had first located the enemy.

Tenzo closed his eyes and focused. He immediately sensed the strongest signals coming from the seed inside Itachi and the one remaining within Shisui, followed by three more distant ones, close together. He frowned, reaching out farther and farther, to no avail. Akane could not have gone out of his range in such a short span of time. One of the seeds was missing.

"I can't locate her seed," he said, eventually. "It's just… gone."

Itachi seethed quietly as he put the pieces together. First, she had seized her chance and sneaked away. Everything she lacked for in physical strength, Akane made up for in stealth many times over, rivaling him in that respect. Second, she had somehow inactivated or destroyed Tenzo's tracking seed. Given that they could float in the stomach for over a day before finally being digested, perhaps she had used her medical knowledge and skill to speed up that process. Third, she had likely turned a small piece of that same medical prowess into a means of tracking.

_I picked up your heartbeat._

"Go get Tsume," Itachi commanded, and Tenzo obeyed.

Akane was nothing if not resourceful; he had always admired that about her. However, everything she had done spoke of premeditation and intent. Of a blatant disregard for the precepts of her own field, which prohibited her from placing herself at risk in any given situation. Of insubordination. By taking matters into her own hands, she was throwing it all away. The initial anger Itachi had felt upon realizing what she had done morphed into pain, more pain, never ending.

He had lost Shisui, and now he was losing Akane, too. She had lived, yes… but she was not the same.

* * *

Suisen could not stop a grunt of pain as his feet sank in the snow once the last of his _chakra _vanished from the soles. He huffed and stopped his fall with one arm pushing weakly against a tree. He had driven himself dangerously close to his limit with that shadow clone, and then well beyond it to keep himself from leaving behind telltale footprints. There was a slim chance they would all regroup and hunt him down properly, but he did not think that would be the case. He was expecting the right one to come along and finish the job. After all, he was certain he had seen murder in her eyes.

Juri was dead already. He would be joining her soon, one way or another. Perhaps they would meet on the other side and he would let her gloat. He remembered once laughing in her face at the idea of her killing an Uchiha. He had been wrong, and Juri would have the last laugh in that. She would love to throw it in his face as much as he would hate it, and even so, he felt almost eager for it to finally be over. For himself to finally be free.

Snowflakes clung to his long hair as it slipped past his shoulders, dangling down. He had taken a blade to it after leaving Konoha all those years ago – a symbolic gesture, since everyone in his clan wore it long. _His _clan, he noted ruefully, as his eyes trailed down over the brown tresses. For all his hatred and his spite, he still thought of them as _his_ clan. His hair, grown back to its original length, was proof of his inability to shake off the past.

_It means nothing_, he told himself. Just like wearing that black cloak with red clouds meant nothing, as well. _Damn them,_ he thought, cradling his broken ribs. _Damn them all: the Hyuugas, the Akatsuki and especially…_

His senses tingled. Years of training as a _shinobi_ and living as a missing-nin amounted to him not needing the _byakugan_ to detect an enemy nearby. It did not help that he could feel killing intent radiating off her like a dark, demonic mist. A smile made its way to his lips through the exhaustion. He had chosen his death well. Now all he had left to do was face it properly, so he turned around.

There she stood, sword drawn: his own, personal _shinigami_. The mask was gone, but her face was the mask now, not a crack in it yet. Not like before. She had had time to recollect herself, to set her mind to this. In his state, it would not be a matter of skill now, but one of mind. Of spirit. To take him down, she had to become his equal, to forswear everything she was and become a predator herself, even if it meant killing a part of herself to do so.

One last threshold. He knew she would cross it, if properly guided down the path.

"I knew you would come," he said, still needing the tree to keep himself upright.

Akane's fingers tightened around the hilt of her sword, bloodying its wrappings. Holding Suisen's pale gaze, devoid now of all fear, she could feel herself slipping deeper into the darkness with each passing moment. His machinations had torn her apart and led to Shisui's death. His blood was as much on his hands as it was on Juri's… and her own. She had chosen to place the promise made to Shisui in her heart-shaped box of secrets, buried in the greys of morality. Something had died inside of her. Once, when Suisen had raped her. Again, when her actions had hastened Shisui's death. A thousand times over in between.

"This is all a game to you," she said quietly.

"You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to play," he pointed out, and marked his words by throwing a _kunai_, which whizzed through the air and cut through her hair before embedding itself in the tree behind her.

Akane did not flinch and the sharp edge kissed her cheekbone, leaving behind a fine, stinging cut. "You didn't kill me then and you still don't want to kill me," she said.

Suisen scoffed and forced himself to straighten up. His legs protested as they took his weight. "You were willing to bet your life on that supposition?" he asked.

"On an educated guess, rather."

He had left her on the brink of death and she had been teetering on that edge ever since, gazing into the abyss. Death had somewhat lost its meaning, like a weapon sharpened too often lost its blade, bit by bit. However, Akane had not been about to throw away her life before taking his. She had simply made note of his hesitation in their earlier clash: lax grip, ineffective restraining method, not drawing the blade across her throat despite having ample opportunity to do so. A _shinobi_ with his experience would not have made such mistakes, not to mention the perfectionist he had proven himself to be.

"Let me guess: you want to know why," Suisen said. "You can deny it, if you wish, but lying to me would mean lying to yourself." He was talking faster than usual, hyperaware of the danger she posed to him. She had not moved an inch, but it was akin to the stillness of a venomous snake waiting to strike. He was only worried she would not let him finish. "When I took you that day, I was planning to interrogate and then kill you. I believed you to be the weakest on your team and I wasn't wrong. However…"

His eyes drifted to the sword in her hand, with its tip resting in the snow. Light glinted along the blade, revealing the discreet ripple design on its surface, where the metal had been folded against itself again and again during its forging.

"There was something dormant in you," he continued. "Unlike your teammates, you still had something to prove, only you were blind to it, or perhaps lacked the necessary motivation. I thought to myself 'what a waste' and put you to the test. Here you are now, proving I was right. I broke you, and you lined yourself with gold into something more beautiful than before. You'll be my legacy."

"You're sick," Akane said, her voice hollow and cold, just like the rest of herself.

Deciding she wanted to hear nothing more from him, she brandished her sword and lunged at him. At the last moment, Suisen raised something to defend himself with. The edge of her sword clacked as it struck down perpendicularly into a dark bamboo flute. Akane felt a sliver of her previous rage creep into her. She gritted her teeth and danced to the tune of that silent fury, using her stuck blade to tear the flute from his grip and throw it aside along with her own weapon.

Suisen slumped back against the tree, exerted by the mere effort of defending himself. He sensed the energy surge in the air a moment before the chatter of birds filled the silence and a Lightning _jutsu_ lit up in her left hand.

"I was hoping you would use the sword," he said wearily. "Less messy, less… personal."

Akane's eyes were alight with the electricity crackling in her palm. "Then I wouldn't get to feel your heart stop beating in my hand."

Pain exploded in Suisen's chest a fraction of a second later and he doubled over, coughing out blood. His breath stopped in his throat. He looked up at her, even as his vision blurred, feeling death coiling around his heart. She had struck sooner than he would have liked and he had been unable to hold her off. No one could say no to death, but he held fast. One last thing to do before he let it claim him.

Akane could feel whatever strength Suisen had left leaving his body, leaving the muscles in his heart. It was beating fast and faster, in its final, mad gallop, but it was losing strength with each contraction. It would not take long. For a moment, the suffering showed on his face. She felt nothing at the sight of it and briefly wondered whether that was good or bad. Did it matter? Soon, she would be free of him, either way.

As his heart struggled in its death throes, all color drained from his face. He was fading fast, after having offered hardly any resistance. It had been a lot easier than she had expected. Akane was wondering at that, watching the trickle of blood running down his chin, dripping on her forearm, when Suisen suddenly looked up at her. The edge in his eyes caused her to tense.

"Well played," he said, his voice weakened down to a mere, pained whisper. "Here's your prize… Akane."

The blood curdled in her veins at the sound of her name on his lips. Then those same lips parted and his tongue came out. Underneath the red of his blood, she could see a black design imprinted: three solid lines and two broken lines, starting from the back of the tongue to the tip. She stared at it, frozen and baffled, as the light died in his eyes and his heart spasmed for the last time. His body sank to the ground, lifeless.

Akane released the inert organ in her fist with a small cry of disgust and backed away into a nearby tree. She crumpled at its base, gasping for air and trembling, fighting the scream lodged in her throat. She could not tear her eyes from the dead _shinobi_, from the crimson mess she had made of his chest and his still open pale eyes. _The color of crushed worms_, her mind echoed numbly, for what she hoped would be the last time.

However, the black seal on Suisen's tongue flashed in her mind (_what_), followed by the sound of her name on his lips (_how_) and Akane's hope was dashed against the surrounding trees (_why)_. She raised her trembling, bloody hands. Shisui's blood was mixing with Suisen's - the insult to Shisui's memory was written all over her skin. She thrust her hands into the snow and began to rub them clean so viciously her skin remained red long after the blood was all gone.

She was not free of him. Even in death, Suisen had not released her.

* * *

Tsume stared at Shisui's body, stunned. Her eyes stung, yet she could not tear her gaze from his bloodless face. It should have been inside him, _all that blood_. What was it doing all over him and in the snow? How had Akane not stopped it from spilling? When Tenzo had told her Shisui was gone, she had almost told him off for inappropriate humor for once. She would have gladly accepted it then as a cruel joke rather than face the truth of it now.

"Tsume."

Itachi's voice, so cold. She almost did not recognize it. What she saw when she turned around to face him frightened her even more.

"I need you to track down Akane."

_That's your best friend lying dead in the snow_, Tsume thought miserably, trying to ascertain the distance Itachi had set between himself and everything beyond the mission. It seemed insurmountable. Part of her understood, knew that this was an ideal, textbook reaction for an ANBU captain when faced with a teammate's death. Yet she could not stop thinking about the slightly drunk Itachi in the _onsen_ pool some months-that-felt-like-ages ago, wondering where he ended and the _shinobi_ began.

"Now, Tsume."

A twitch of his brows, a glint in the red, blood red, of Itachi's _sharingan_… then nothing. Even his steely tone had conveyed nothing more than urgency. Tsume's words stuck in her throat, teeth clenching like prison bars. _Feel, _she prayed, looking at him. _Be annoyed, angry with me, just _feel_ something. _Akane's scent was drawing near, heavy with blood – none of it hers; but Itachi could not have known that. The mission was over, he just did not know it; otherwise, she would have felt a modicum of guilt for provoking him.

It was Tenzo who noticed Akane stalking out of the woods into the clearing, and the small movement of his eyes towards her was enough to tip off Itachi into redirecting his attention. Tsume felt no relief at the sudden change of Itachi's focus when he strode to meet Akane halfway, out of their earshot.

"What-"

Akane held out a storage scroll and Itachi's mouth clamped shut as his eyes fell on the 'corpse' _kanji_ inscribed on it. She did not meet his gaze, nor utter a single word. She did not have to. He recognized in her a void similar to his own. That distant part of him understood. He wanted nothing more than to reach out, to hold her and be held in return. However, he could not.

"We'll discuss the consequences when we get home," Itachi said.

Akane nodded wordlessly, tucking the storage scroll in her pouch with ice-cold hands. Her heart cringed as her fingers enclosed around another, empty one. She moved, ghostlike, towards the teammate she had failed and who was now lying in the red snow. Although Juri was no more than a pile of cold, black ashes and Suisen, a corpse in a scroll, none of them felt better for it. None of them felt justice had been done. After all, death could not pay for life. Vengeance could not bring Shisui back.

Akane was only a couple of feet away from him when Itachi barred her way. Tsume tensed as the medic obliged him and stepped back. Itachi's scent, wafting downwind, made her hackles rise. Something was not right. Throughout the years, she had learned to trust her gut. There were things she could pick up on through her sense of smell that her mind could not grasp entirely, but the very notion of which set off the alarm. Although she could not put her finger on it, she sensed that he was about to do something unspeakable.

"Get back," Itachi told them all.

His tone of command caused the muscles in Tsume's legs to stop against her will, just when she was about to rush over to him. She saw Itachi's _sharingan_ fixated on Shisui's blood-streaked face, red upon red, and his right hand rising to form seals. Her stomach lurched and a feral howl caught in her tightened throat when Itachi's intention finally became painfully clear to her. The scream tore from her throat along with the roar of flames which engulfed Shisui's body. Kuromaru howled his sorrow at the sky.

But Tenzo's sudden hold on her was secure and it was all Tsume could do to thrash around in his grip. She screamed until the lining of her throat was raw, her voice consumed, down to a ragged whimper. The fire burned on, a funnel of thick, black smoke rising up towards the sky. Tsume felt her legs giving in and she collapsed in the snow, dragging Tenzo down with her. The orange and reds blurred through the tears and she turned away from them, burying her face in the warmth of Tenzo's chest.

The skin on Akane's face was burning from the heat of the fire _jutsu_, though she was well away from the pyre. She forced herself to stand still and watch it consuming Shisui. Shisui, who had once told her an Uchiha's love burns like a bonfire in the dead of winter. A shiver ran through her in spite of the heat, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She stole a glance at Tsume, who was shuddering, and whose heart was voicing its mounting distress with a prolonged sequence of frantic, loud thumps. She was likely teetering on the verge of another panic attack.

Tsume almost gagged at the smell of blood that clung to Akane as she drew near. She saw the hand, scrubbed clean, reaching out to touch her like a pale snake and recoiled. With the last of her strength, Tsume slapped Akane's arm away and wrenched herself free from Tenzo's hold. Before any of them could stop her, she dashed to close the distance between herself and Itachi. He saw her coming, but made no move to stop her as she pushed him into a tree and locked her forearm against his throat. She wrenched the ANBU mask from his face with the other hand and bared her fangs at him.

"How _could_ you?" she spat in tattered voice, but full of venom. The stream of tears which she thought had run dry began anew. "He deserved better than to fucking burn where he was _murdered_, he deserved a _proper _fucking funeral you heartless bastard, you… you…"

Itachi was gazing at her impassively, inert both body and soul. He was dying too, she realized. That slightly drunk Itachi who had laughed with them in the dark, steaming pool under the stars was going to follow Shisui into oblivion. The ANBU captain was burning one and smothering the other. Her eyes lingered on the trails of dried blood on Itachi's cheeks, before they became a blur again. When she spoke, her voice broke over the words.

"Shisui loved you…"

"I know."

His soft reply rendered Tsume speechless as her heart broke, too. Then, something cold jabbed into the pressure points at the base of her neck and her grip slackened as the world grew dark. The glowing red of Itachi's _sharingan_ was the last to fade.

Akane held Tsume's body as it fell lax into her arms and eased her down to the ground. Kuromaru whined mournfully, pressing his head against Tsume's cold cheek. Tenzo shuffled through the snow to join them.

Itachi stared into the roaring flames. He pushed himself off the tree and walked past his teammates, towards the fire, vaguely aware of Akane's gaze following him warily. He did not stop until the heat of the pyre threatened to consume him, too. It made his eyes sting and still, he forced himself to endure.

_If something ever happens to me, burn my body._

Shisui's voice echoed, ghostlike, across Itachi's mindscape. His pyre became a luminous, amorphous mass, casting golden fractals across his field of vision. A droplet fell into the snow at Itachi's feet, stained pink by the dried blood it had encountered on its way down.

_I promise._

**I apologize for the long wait and thank you for your patience. I burned myself out halfway through this chapter a while back and needed the distance. I hope I am back for good, but I make no promises of regular updates. I am not the most consistent of writers, unfortunately. The story is nowhere near the end, either (this, I had not planned; it's way longer than I expected it to be when I started out).**

**Later edit: I should add some mentions I forgot about: **

**1\. Itachi's name means "weasel", but I suppose you knew that already (hint for Shisui's ANBU mask). **

**2\. When Suisen told Akane she had lined herself with gold after he broke her and thus became beautiful, he was making a reference to the Japanese art of _kintsugi_: repairing broken pottery with gold. You can look up pictures of it, it's something quite spectacular.**


	29. The Ruins of Yesterday

**Chapter 29 – The Ruins of Yesterday**

_Sunlight filtered through the canopy dappled his skin with warmth. Blackbirds sang sweetly, hidden in the leaves. A babbling brook glittered as it cut its path through the forest floor. Every now and again, Itachi spotted the silvery sheen of tiny scales as fish darted in and out of cover, swimming against the current. Life sometimes felt like that for him, too. He was still a child, but he was now a shinobi._

_And a true Uchiha, Itachi mused. He watched as the fish vanished into hiding when a leaf fell into the water, only to return to their upstream struggle after a few moments. If a creature so small could withstand a force so many times greater and make it seem effortless, couldn't he?_

"_It's a bit early in the day for sadness, don't you think?"_

_Itachi peered over his shoulder and saw Shisui approaching, light-footed as always. Most shinobi tended to walk around soundlessly out of force of habit. It often had an unsettling effect on civilians, although other shinobi were unfazed, due to their own training. Some, however, had an innate talent for becoming one with their surroundings: Shisui was one of them. Itachi would never sense him nearby unless he made his presence known somehow. His own talent in stealth still needed work, by contrast._

"_I'm not sad," Itachi said._

_Shisui stopped by the rock, but did not sit. Instead, he placed a hand on his hip and cocked his head. "You're not a very good liar yet, either."_

_Itachi felt the warmth of guilt suffusing his cheeks and turned his head to hide it. He was unaware of the sullen pout which had formed on his lips until Shisui snickered and gently poked his cheek with the tip of his index. Itachi wanted to show his cousin that nothing was wrong, other than his assumption, and the corner of his lip twitched into a smile. It faltered and broke only a moment later, as his eyes filled with tears and his mouth with bitterness. Perhaps it had been a presumption._

_He saw Shisui's blurry silhouette crouch and felt his thumb wipe a tear that had slipped from the corner of his eye. Itachi wiped the rest of them himself, ashamed and upset with his own inability to hold them back. Shinobi did not cry… did they? He looked up at Shisui with that unspoken question in his heart and was taken aback to see his cousin in a different light. His usual, carefree mien was gone, replaced by the ghostly echoes of a pain that must have once been like his own, too close to the surface. Now, it was deep-set and muted._

_Itachi saw his reflection in Shisui's dark eyes and realized what had brought about the change. He had been too distressed and unused to his recently awakened sharingan to notice it activating. His eyes shot down to the ground, swimming in tears again. When he spoke, his voice quivered._

"_To think I envied Izumi for it," he said. "Like an ill wish."_

"_No," Shisui said, shaking his head as if to put more weight upon that word. "You couldn't have known, Itachi."_

_Still, Tenma had died. The sharingan had been paid for in his blood. Itachi could still hear the sound of steel parting flesh, see the crimson spurt in its wake. He realized Shisui already had not only his sharingan, but also the Mangekyou. A shiver ran through him at the thought. Shisui had been the one swimming against the current all this time, while he had only been playing at it. He dreaded to think of what awakening the Mangekyou entailed. No wonder no one in their clan talked about how they had unlocked their kekkei genkai._

"_I'm sorry," he murmured. "I never thought…"_

_Shisui shook his head again. "Power like ours should come with a hefty price. Otherwise, we'd take it for granted and abuse it. Not that it hasn't been known to happen from time to time." _

"_What do you mean?" Itachi asked. Shisui knew more of the Uchiha clan's history than most, partly due to his own inquisitive nature, but also thanks to his father, who had been the clan's lore keeper until his death._

"_Those of our clan who lose too much of what they love may eventually find comfort in hatred." Sadness was not an emotion Itachi often saw on his cousin's face, but it was there now, more defined than before. There was a nuance to his tone that conveyed the deeper understanding of one who was not simply repeating something he had heard about._

"_Shisui…"_

_But Shisui smirked and patted the top of his head. "It's alright. I wasn't too far gone, so I came back. I'm here to stay."_

_Itachi believed him. However, while Shisui may hold on to his secrets unless he wanted to share them with him, Itachi was still too curious about one thing to let it go. "How did you… come back?"_

_The question seemed to chase away all the shadows of sadness from Shisui's face, and the sun shined there again, in his smile and in his eyes. The answer was much simpler than Itachi had imagined. _

"_I found something else to love."_

* * *

Snowflakes whirled about and caressed Itachi's face, the cold feathers of a bird called winter. In a couple of months, it would fly too close to the sun, but until then, the world would endure in the shadow of its wings. Winter had nestled in his heart, too, a frigid wasteland left in the wake of Shisui's pyre. Warmth felt like a distant dream and the wind was yet rising, cutting through them without mercy or respite.

Yatagarasu was flying slowly, weighed down by the five adults and one large _ninken _on her back. Tsume and Hiashi were lying side by side, still unconscious. Tenzo and Kuromaru were watching them to make sure they would not roll over, while huddling together near the tail. Itachi was sitting slightly above the old crow's shoulders, his eyes fixated on the stars adorning the swathe of clear sky at the horizon, beyond the clouds still above their heads.

"Itachi."

He looked at Akane, in whose palm was a soldier pill. Summoning Yatagarasu between the two of them had taken quite a lot of _chakra_ from their already low reserves. He could feel the strain throughout his body, the creeping tiredness, the weary heart. Home was still far away. At the rate the encumbered crow was flying, it would take them all night and half a day to reach Konoha, if not longer. In light of all that, the pungent, bitter taste of the chewy soldier pill was easier to ignore. Other things were not.

Itachi became aware that Akane was shivering, trying in vain to rub some warmth into her bare shoulders. He had been distraught. He realized he could not even remember nightfall, as if he had closed his eyes during the day and opened them at night, only a mere moment later. The mission's objective had been completed, but it was not yet over. Until they all arrived home safe, the welfare of team Yon's members was ultimately his responsibility. Fractured as he felt, he needed to pull and hold himself together.

"Where's your cloak?" he asked.

Akane's lips pressed into a thin line at the question. The gesture gave Itachi pause before the likely meaning behind it occurred to him. He was grateful when she did not answer his question directly. He did not think he could hear Shisui's name uttered without his heart breaking a little more. Not just yet. He shrugged out one shoulder from his own cloak.

"It's alright, I can use _chakra_ to keep somewhat warm," she said.

"Come here."

Akane's eyes shot up to his and in the dark, she felt some color return to her numb cheeks, making them tingle. His tone had been gentle, but firm, leaving no room for argument. He was holding out one half of his cloak like a wing for her to go under. She would have rather given him his space and endure the physical discomfort if only to spare herself from the emotional one. The burning in her cheeks was from shame, not shyness.

She had stolen away like a thief in the night to chase revenge. What was it Kakashi had warned her about? Revenge was a blade with no hilt, it would cut her as deeply as the one she aimed it at. But he had been wrong. Itachi had been hurt by it, too. She had let him down, she knew. What hurt even more was knowing she still did not regret killing Suisen. Her own selfishness disgusted her, but denying it would mean lying to herself and Itachi both.

Akane shook her head. "I…"

"Please," he said. His eyes were darker than ever and looked tired. So tired. "You should save your _chakra, _in any case."

That was something she could not argue with. Akane glanced at the two unconscious forms occupying the most space on Yatagarasu's back. She had been monitoring them both without pause. Tsume would be waking up soon, but Hiashi had sustained severe injuries. While he was currently stable due to her previous work, his condition could still take a turn for the worse without much warning beforehand. She did need to be ready for that, in case it happened, and having more _chakra_ instead of less would undoubtedly help.

Akane relented quietly and the cloak whispered as Itachi pulled it around them both. She was ice-cold, so he pulled her closer. Her hair felt like satin as it brushed against his shoulder when she nestled into his side, lulled by the warmth. Itachi's arm settled around her, and not for the first time, he noticed her bird-boned frame. Those bones that felt like they could so easily snap had not, yet something had broken inside her. Inside him, too. Now the jagged edges of their souls were protruding and they were left to figure out how to work things through without cutting each other open.

* * *

"_What about the rest?" Itachi asked._

_The sun had moved on and its golden light around them had shifted, but the question had lingered in his mind while the two of them trained together through the morning. It seemed like something that would not give him peace until he knew, so Itachi had finally made up his mind to ask during their break._

_Shisui paused in between gulps of water and wiped the beads of sweat glistening on his brow. "Hm?"_

"_The love before," Itachi said. "The love lost. How could that ever be replaced when it's gone?"_

_There was a glint of understanding in Shisui's eyes, followed by a wan smile. "Still thinking about that?" _

_He joined Itachi on his rock, in the middle of their kunai-littered piece of forest, and leaned back with his arms under his head to look at the sky. Itachi followed his gaze. The crowns of the trees fell short of touching one other, forming a puzzle-like design against the blue backdrop. Hashirama's trees, which formed most of the forests around Konoha and whose leaves turned bright red in winter instead of falling, were also dizzyingly tall. It made him feel very small in comparison._

"_It can't be replaced," Shisui said eventually, in a quiet, even tone._

_Itachi mulled over the words, but he could not wrap his mind around them. "Then… I don't understand," he admitted sheepishly._

_Shisui did not lose his patience or mock him, though he was older. Itachi's time in the Academy had taught him to be wary of his senpai, who shunned him more often than not. They did not understand, but Shisui did, he always had. Whatever his own feelings – and Itachi could see it again, the pain this conversation caused him – Shisui would help him make sense of anything. Perhaps, in retrospective, it had been a bit selfish of him to insist. He was about to call it off when Shisui's hand pressed lightly against his chest, over his heart._

"_First there's pain, like some part of you was torn away. Then comes hollowness, like nothing could ever fill the void left behind. For some, it's easier to try to fill that void with hatred than endure the pain. But like any wound, it eventually heals. Sure, it leaves a scar. Sure, it still hurts sometimes. But there's always room for more love in a heart that is willing to nurture it. You just need to give yourself time."_

* * *

Back then, Shisui's love for him had been yet uncomplicated, unlike the secret one he had ended up taking with him into the flames. But it made no difference. It was ashes, all ashes now, swept by the winds of winter. The words Itachi had hearkened to all those years ago rang hollow in the empty halls of his heart tonight. Like it had burned from the heat of the pyre, his face now burned from the cold. Whatever tears the cutting wind wrenched from his eyes dried on his cheeks before he could feel their warmth.

He turned his gaze toward the sky and was surprised to find a myriad of stars aglitter instead of clouds. How much time had passed again? Perhaps exhaustion was finally catching up with him now that the tide of emotion and adrenaline had ebbed. He became aware of the numbness in his right arm, as opposed to the comfortable warmth in his left one. Something was pressing into his side, radiating the warmth which had kept the blood flowing in that limb.

_Akane, _his numb mind echoed.

She had curled up at his side in a decidedly uncomfortable position, in an attempt to make herself small enough for his cloak to cover as much of them both as possible. The rhythm of her breathing suggested light sleep – the kind that would allow her to wake up at the slightest change in the state of her patients. Itachi could sense her _chakra_ not entirely subdued; some of it was still attached to Tsume and Hiashi, monitoring them. Any sort of sleep was better than none, as ANBU operatives well knew.

Sleep, however, eluded him. He had been entrenched in memories, but not asleep - that much he was certain of. His dreams would not have been so merciful, Itachi feared. Not that sifting through the past did anything to assuage his grief. Quite the opposite, in fact. Shisui's image was so vivid in his mind, his presence still so tangible that it tore at the wound, deepening it. He had no strength left in him to fight the pain, so he let its blood fill the void within him.

He felt Akane stir and realized his thumb had been brushing against her skin in small circles. It was a mindless thing, meant to soothe and bring comfort, but it betrayed his frazzled state. Things were starting to escape his notice, this repetitive gesture included. Itachi remained still, hoping it had not been enough to rouse her, but then her eyelids fluttered open. The side of his neck, where her temple had been resting, suddenly felt cold as she pulled away from him.

Itachi was about to apologize for waking her when he noticed Akane was leaving the cover of the cloak to tend to the two figures behind them. For a moment, he feared Hiashi had taken a turn for the worse, but it appeared she was directing her attention towards Tsume, who had only been knocked out cold. He took that to mean she was finally coming to.

_Shisui loved you…_

He wrapped the cloak tighter around himself to keep the creeping cold at bay, but the shudder which coursed through him was caused by a different chill altogether.

"Don't fucking touch me!" Tsume's gruff voice broke the silence.

Itachi saw her jerk away from Akane, even though her body must have been still somewhat numb, judging by the awkward way she scampered backwards. He heard Tenzo admonish her gently for the outburst, but Tsume shook her head stubbornly and growled back something Itachi did not catch. Then Yatagarasu croaked wearily, angling her head slightly to glance at them.

"If you do not settle down back there, I will shake you all off and _then_, you will have something to complain about."

Akane was shivering as she slipped back under Itachi's cloak, and did so quietly for a few minutes until she warmed up again. They wrapped themselves in silence and leaned into each other as they watched the sky turn grey in the east. Dawn was coming, yet the night seemed endless.

* * *

After the time they had spent in the mountains, under the constant cover of sleet grey clouds, the pale orb of the winter sun seemed alien. Its sickly light was cold against their skin and too weak to penetrate the shadows in their hearts. Despite the world shifting around them, following its natural course, it felt like the five of them were somehow frozen in time on Yatagarasu's back. Frozen back in those woods, in the snow, only the snowflakes in their hair were now ashes.

Itachi's eyelids closed to blink, but failed to open again for a few moments, weighed down by tiredness. His eyes burned, too, as if his _sharingan_ had been active all this time. The dull ache which had first blossomed at the back of his head in the early morning had crawled its way through his skull to the temples, where it had turned into something truly wicked around noon. It now pulsed with every move of his eyes and head. He was determined to soldier through it. It would not be the first time.

"Is that smoke?"

Itachi fought off the leaden sensation in his eyes and the sharp crack of pain that whipped through his head when he looked up. The faded blue sky at the horizon was indeed the backdrop of several plumes of smoke. They were spindly, but the distance was too great for them to be as inconspicuous as they seemed. Any desire for rest abandoned him completely. They could not see it yet, but beyond the forest of giant, red-leaved trees which obscured it was Konoha.

"Weren't the _chuunin _exam finals today?" Akane asked.

A foreboding feeling sank like a rock in Itachi's stomach. Such an event would provide the perfect opportunity for an attack, which was why all security measures were usually bolstered. Konoha was one of the five great villages, not one force could hope to take it alone, especially at a time like this. Unless, of course, it was an inside job. Orochimaru's name was the first to flash through his mind. He had proven his mettle by infiltrating the second stage of the exam, after all. Would Orochimaru dare show himself in Konoha again after having marked Sasuke? Would he have the manpower to launch a full-scale attack?

The muscles in his legs twitched as it crossed his mind to jump off Yatagarasu's back into the trees below. Alone, he would get to Konoha faster than the crow, slowed down by their weight as she was. If the village was under attack, it would need every _shinobi _it had. He was not in the best shape, but he could still fight. He turned to Akane and was about to ask her for a soldier pill when he met her eyes. The question stuck in his throat, his tongue suddenly refusing to articulate it.

It was unthinkable, of course. An inadvisable course of action. His father would have been aghast to know he had considered it, even if he thought Itachi was merely wasting his time in the ANBU of late. Leaving his team behind in these circumstances, in which too much was yet uncertain, went against the regulations, not just Kakashi's mantra. He was tired and not thinking clearly. He steeled his heart and checked himself before making the mistake.

Akane said nothing as Itachi turned his gaze away from her, back to the threads of smoke rising in the distance. For a moment, she had looked at him as if she had sensed his intent. Itachi recognized that feeling; he had experienced it before, just not with her. He had only ever been an open book to one person. It was disconcerting at the moment to think another might learn to sift through his pages.

"Do not fret," Yatagarasu said, as though merely remarking upon the weather. "Konoha may burn, but it will stand."

Getting something akin to reassurance from the least likely source did little to set their minds at ease. Itachi, however, understood what the old crow was saying. Konoha was more than buildings, it was all the people who called it home. A community. Crows had great reverence for this notion. It was the pinnacle of their creed.

Yatagarasu had once told him the lone crow might as well try to fly with only one wing. He had been young, only just promoted from "Ita-chan" to "Itachi boy" with this one comment attached. He had grasped her meaning then, too, and worked harder to integrate seamlessly within the teams he was appointed to. It had not changed his reserved nature, but it had had a lasting impact on how he worked with others, especially when he had faced difficulties because of his age. That had been a problem even with some of the members on Kakashi's team Ro. With Tsume too, at the beginning of team Yon.

His eyes slipped to the left, to Akane, whose gaze was fixated on the funnels of smoke rising like snakes from the sea of crimson trees. Was she starting to fly alone? How long could she keep herself aloft with only one wing before sinking? Perhaps she had been floundering for a long time and he had merely been blind to it. Was this her failure or his? Both, Itachi concluded dispiritedly. It was partly why he felt compelled to help her, even if he did not yet know how.

Yatagarasu flapped her great wings one, two, three times to ascend and then let the wind carry her smoothly along, giving the _shinobi _on her back the view they had been waiting for with dread coiled in their bellies.

Konoha sprawled beyond the tree line, battered and scarred. Something large had smashed through its defensive wall and left destruction in its wake, levelling the better part of two districts. Some buildings were still burning, though a handful of Water style users were at hard work at that very moment, fighting to extinguish the fires before they spread. Houses had toppled over the streets, blocking some of them completely. Debris had rained like hail everywhere. Here and there, Itachi saw dead bodies among discarded weapons and marks left by the clash of _jutsus_. Some of them wore the standard issue Konoha uniform. Others sported a symbol that did not escape the scrutiny of his _sharingan: _the hourglass of Suna.

Konoha's ally had turned on her. It had been an inside job of sorts, after all, although the reasons Suna might have started this eluded Itachi. Alone, it would have had no means of winning against a more powerful village. They must have had some help to make them think they stood a chance, he mused. In any case, it seemed like the fighting was over. He had seen no more than a handful of civilians among the dead so far, which meant Konoha's evacuation protocols had gone smoothly. As his eyes swept over the scene once more, he noticed a familiar figure standing in one of the damaged districts, giving orders left and right from atop a pile of rubble.

Itachi turned to Akane. "Make sure everyone gets to the hospital," he told her. "I'll meet you there later."

The hospital was nearby and he deemed it safe for them to go on without him, as well as warranted for him to forego the usual rules, given that he now had a basic understanding of the situation. He waited for her confirmation, then jumped off Yatagarasu's back, vanishing midair to teleport over a short distance to the nearest, safe-looking rooftop. From there, it took only a swift dash and two more jumps before he landed near the figure he had spotted from above only moments ago.

Fugaku spared the ANBU a glance. He then finished barking an order at a Konoha Police squad before he turned his full attention to Itachi. The boy was in full ANBU uniform, but even if his shrewd eyes had failed him somehow, a father would always know his own son. He quickly took in the scuff marks on the equipment, however, and figured Itachi had only just returned from his mission. If he had not been so embittered by the recent events, he would have voiced his approval for Itachi's dedication. He appeared unharmed, but he had been gone for weeks. No one returned from missions fresh as a daisy, yet here he was.

"We have everything under control now," he told Itachi, who stood up to his full height and discreetly surveyed the area. "It was a joint effort of Suna and Otogakure. I heard Orochimaru was involved."

His father was not a man of many words, but those few that he spoke struck a chord of cold dread. "Any word about Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

Fugaku shook his head and for a split second, he looked almost contrite. "Apparently this whole mess started during his match against one of the Suna nin. But Orochimaru didn't go for him."

Itachi should have felt relief, although he took that to mean Fugaku had not gone to see Sasuke's match at the stadium. The chief of Konoha's Police Force would have been needed at work, maintaining security.

Regardless, he sensed this was not going in a pleasant direction. He was right again.

"Hogake-sama is dead."

**I hit a snag with this chapter and it took me a while to work my way through it, but here it is. I should have titled it "No Rest for the Wicked", but eh.**

**Speaking of titles, I believe an explanation for this entire fic's title is slightly overdue, if any of you were wondering. If not, feel free to skip the next couple of paragraphs. **

**"When the Red Moon Rises" was meant as a play on the word "Akatsuki", which means "dawn". However, taken separately, "aka" means "red" and "tsuki" means moon. It also went nicely with the picture of ANBU Itachi with a red moon behind him (although that stands for a certain event which never happened in my fic). So no, not all that clever, but as I've mentioned before, I only had a vague sketch of the plot in my head and back when I posted the first chapter this story was supposed to stop somewhere around two chapters ago (maybe even earlier than that, given how much it has branched out).**

**Lo and behold, much has happened since and in between and a much has yet to happen. For a while, I entertained the idea of changing the title or posting the rest in a separate fic, as a sequel, but I decided against both. It would have been more of a hassle than just adding to this fic's monstrous size and seeing how big it gets before it ends (I read an almost 400.000-word long fic last year, I was in awe of the author's commitment). Rant over. **

**Anyway, I hope this update finds you safe and in good health, wherever you are. I also hope it provides a little distraction in these trying times. **


	30. Where the Tree Leaves Dance

**Chapter 30 – Where the Tree Leaves Dance**

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been the Hokage for as long as Itachi could remember. He only knew the Fourth's face from his likeness carved in the mountain, as he had died not long after Sasuke was born. But the Third had been Hokage for the entirety of Itachi's _shinobi_ life. It was he who had shaped Itachi's perspective on what a Hokage should be like.

The kindly old man who sometimes took his time to visit at the Academy, whether it was to impart his wisdom upon often dismissive young minds or to quietly watch their progress from one season to another. The old man who looked so weighed down by the white and red robes of his office, but who wore them with all the dignity his rank demanded. The wizened man who tottered about all the time, but who had probably died fighting, defending Konoha like so many others, decades younger than him.

That Hokage was dead.

The news hit like a punch in an already battered stomach, yet Itachi barely registered the pain. It felt surreal for Konoha to lose two good people in the span of less than twenty-four hours, in a time of relative peace. And who knew how many more? Most of the dead were likely unaccounted for, so soon after the attack. They were friends and relatives, neighbors and acquaintances. The _shinigami_ had been greedy. It seemed Konoha would mourn as one.

"Shisui isn't with you. Was he injured?"

His father's question hit like a _kunai_ to the gut and that pain did register, like ripples in a pond. Itachi confined them under a layer of ice. Of course, Fugaku did not know. His own voice felt foreign as it shaped the words that came out of his mouth.

"Shisui died on the mission."

Itachi could not remember the last time he had seen his father taken aback. Emotion did not often grace Uchiha Fugaku's face and there was little that surprised him. Shisui would have been flattered to know he had had something to do with it, Itachi thought idly. But Shisui would never know.

Fugaku's face eventually reset itself into its usual stony expression. Only a marked crease between his brows betrayed it, but he allowed himself this one concession. Shisui had been one of the clan's best, one of the pillars of its future. The news of his death had struck a heavy blow, closer to home, as if today's nightmare was not enough. He grasped at the one thread of light remaining to him at the moment: relief, knowing that Itachi was safe and sound. But he knew nothing about Sasuke or Mikoto, who had been at the stadium.

"There's nothing you can do here," Fugaku told Itachi. "If you want to help, go look for your mother and brother."

Itachi nodded and vanished. He would begin his search at the hospital, the most likely place he would find them if they had been injured. He could not bear to consider something worse than that, but the possibility loomed like a shadow, regardless. If anything, these days had proven no one was safe from the _shinigami_.

* * *

The Konoha Hospital appeared mercifully undamaged both from above and from ground level, when Yatagarasu finally landed in the courtyard. As the old crow vanished in a burst of smoke that billowed in the breeze, Tenzo and Tsume carried Hiashi up the steps to the front doors. It was not until Akane pushed them open that it became clear where the damage was.

The hospital's foyer was overflowing with people, filled with a cacophony of talking, crying and moaning. The smell of blood and disinfectant permeated the air. Every available piece of furniture was occupied, and many patients were sitting on the floor. Most of them did not appear to be in critical condition, but nevertheless, Akane saw no medics tending to any of them. They were likely wrapped up with the worst of cases. In the midst of all that remained, she spotted a lone flash of white: a single nurse, overwhelmed, zooming from one patient to another like a crazed bee. Akane cursed under her breath and went to her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Sand and Sound attacked during the _chuunin_ exam," the nurse replied in a clipped tone, without pausing from her work on bandaging a leg gash.

The answer only raised more questions, but Akane decided now was not the time. "I need a bed or a gurney for a patient in critical but stable condition," she told the nurse, while starting to unclasp her armguards.

The nurse looked up, irritated that someone, even an ANBU, could think of demanding such things at a time like this. "Who-?"

Akane removed her ANBU mask only briefly before putting it back on. There was a flash of recognition in the woman's eyes, followed by relief.

"I'll be joining you shortly, although I'm afraid I don't have much _chakra_," Akane added, already making for the locker room.

Tsume watched Akane leaving the foyer and her mounting frustration peaked. While the rest of them had fought against Suisen and Juri, she had been swept to the sidelines. Much as she wanted to believe otherwise, Tsume knew why Itachi had relegated her to watching over Hiashi, away from the fight. Like many of his decisions, it was two-fold: to eliminate the danger she posed as a wild card, as well as keep her safe for her children's sake. Deep down, Tsume understood the former and was grateful for the latter. What she resented was feeling so damn useless.

Which is why, the moment she and Tenzo finally laid down Hiashi Hyuuga on a hospital bed and were free of their charge, Tsume made up her mind.

"Come, Kuromaru."

Tenzo realized what she was about to do and trailed after her towards the exit, minding his step around the injured people lying on the hospital floor. "You should stay until the Captain returns."

"I'm not hurt," she said. "There's nothing I can do here, but they sure as hell need help out there."

It was the fact that Tsume was not raising her voice in her usual, temperamental way of arguing, that conveyed her determination. Tenzo realized he stood no chance of winning the argument and sighed.

"Well then, I'm coming with you," he said. "An extra pair of hands won't hurt."

At that, Tsume whirled around and barred his way toward the exit, placing her hands on her hips. "Don't be ridiculous. You can't mold _chakra_, you told me that yourself. You're staying here for your medical check-up and that's an order." Thankfully, Itachi had not demoted her yet. She was still his second-in-command, officially.

Tenzo pursed his lips, but his back straightened up ever-so-slightly – a deeply ingrained reflex among the military in response to receiving an order. It was how Tsume knew she had won.

A smirk curled her lips and she placed a hand on Tenzo's shoulder to reassure him. "It's alright. You've done your part. Now it's my turn."

* * *

Akane showered in record time, then donned a white medic coat over the fresh set of clothes she always kept in her hospital locker. She could not remember the last time she had needed them, but they certainly came in handy today. Her ANBU uniform had soaked up enough blood to stiffen the fabric now that it was dry. She ended up tossing it into the infectious clinical waste bin for incineration.

The rest of her items went inside the locker. However, she hesitated for a moment before shutting the locker door. After a short deliberation, she removed two storage scrolls. One of them contained her personal effects. The other one was inscribed with the seal for "corpse". Akane's eyes then lingered on her blood-spattered ANBU mask until the door clanged shut, sealing it in the darkness within.

The lobby was no less crowded than before when Akane went back. If anything, the nurse only looked more frazzled.

"They're starting to bring in more _genin_," she said, casting a sorrowful glance toward Akane while clearing her med cart of bloody pieces of gauze and disinfecting it. "There was a case of poisoning, but Eiji-san took that. There's three of them who came in just a couple of minutes ago, however. Two out cold, vitals stable. One said he was fine, but wouldn't leave their side. I had them all placed in 102, if you'd please have a look at them."

Akane nodded and thanked the nurse before making her way down the hall to the room she had indicated. Somehow, she was not surprised to find a familiar face inside. It appeared Konoha was not so big, after all.

There was no sign of recognition in Sasuke's eyes when he looked up at her. He was sitting in the only chair in the room, between the beds occupied by the two she assumed to be his teammates. At first glance, Sasuke appeared moderately unharmed, aside from the almost depleted _chakra_ reserves. Exhaustion was written plainly over his face, but there was an unnamed fire burning in his eyes, something restless and discontented.

"My name is Akane Nara, I will be your medic today," she began. "Could you tell me what happened to your friends?"

The pink-haired girl's pulse was more sluggish, so she went to her side first. She looked up at Sasuke, whose reply was short and on point.

"She got slammed into a tree and crushed."

Akane nodded. Indeed, she found a few fissures in the girl's ribs and a mild concussion, which she assumed was the cause for the loss of consciousness. As she began healing the damage she could, she was surprised when Sasuke addressed her on a more personal note.

"You're his teammate."

It had been an affirmation, not a question, so Akane saw no reason to deny it. The boy was better at dissimulating than she had thought. She did find it curious, however, that Sasuke had not uttered his brother's name.

"I am."

There was a small pause before he spoke again. "Does that mean he's back?"

Was that relief or something else? Akane could not tell, but it did occur to her that perhaps, one day, Sasuke would follow in Itachi's footsteps straight into the ANBU. Although he had not asked about Itachi's state, she thought some reassurance was still in order.

"He's back and he's alright," she said.

Sasuke said nothing more. The healing _chakra_ around Akane's hands faded. The girl would be alright, so she turned her attention to their remaining teammate. From the blond boy's vital signs alone, she could sense nothing wrong – his heartbeat was strong, textbook in its rhythmicity. It was not until Akane saw the whisker-like markings on his face that she realized why, given his seemingly battered state.

_Naruto Uzumaki. The Kyuubi's jinchuuriki._

A monstrous, nine-tailed shadow, darker than the night sky. A howl that shook the ground. Buildings crumbling. The smell of smoke in the gusts of wind. Running in the night, panicked voices all around, children crying. Her own heart hammering in her chest, loud, louder than the silent plea she kept repeating in her head over and over again as she ran.

_Please be alright, mom and dad, please be alright, please, please, please, I'm scared_

Akane realized her hands were trembling, hovering uncertainly halfway between herself and the boy. She could feel Sasuke's gaze pinned on them, on her, gauging her reaction, trying to make sense of it. Didn't he know what was sealed inside his teammate? What could come out?

_Stop,_ she commanded herself. _You're a medic. Get a hold of yourself and do your fucking job._

Sasuke saw the medic hesitating and realized she must have been waiting for him to fill her in on what had happened, like he had with Sakura. She could have said something, he thought, disgruntled. But then, what was he supposed to tell her? That Naruto had fought a monster? If the image of that creature were not burned into his mind by the _sharingan_, he would have thought he had only dreamed of it.

"He… I think he used too much _chakra,"_ Sasuke said, eventually. "But he got tossed around a bit, too, so…"

"Thank you," Akane said quietly. Using his voice as an anchor into the present moment to pull herself from the past, she finally managed to force _chakra_ in her hands. It was not the boy's fault. He was not the monster inside him.

But the _kyuubi's _presence certainly made itself known throughout its vessel, she thought as she delved into Naruto's body. The visible cuts and bruises, the wound on his forehead, where his skin had split – they were already healing at an impressive rate. Although still at a cellular level, the speed of the process suggested all his injuries would be gone within a day, at most. And that was likely only because Sasuke was right in saying he had used too much _chakra_. Whatever the underlying cause, she could not help but be in awe.

* * *

The moment Itachi set foot inside the hospital, he knew he would find Akane wearing a white coat instead of an ANBU uniform. Although most of the attackers had been driven off, a few stragglers remained. He had encountered some himself on his way to the hospital. The Police Force was sweeping through each district, dealing with the remnant of Sand and Sound, as well as rounding up more of the injured, but being thorough also meant slow. It would be a while before the influx of patients dwindled.

Itachi saw Tenzo, but no sign of Tsume and Kuromaru. He had an inkling what her absence implied, which was soon confirmed by Tenzo. Team Yon was falling apart and Itachi felt like he could not grasp at the pieces fast enough to keep them together. Another bitter pill to chew at. He was beginning to lose his sense of taste after one too many of those. Tenzo, however, unwittingly provided him with a drop of honey, as well.

"Your brother and his teammates were brought in a little while ago," he said. "I think Akane might be with them now, ask the nurse over there."

Itachi barely registered the next few moments until he found himself in front of the door marked 102. His hand was numb when it knocked and the door knob almost felt warm against his skin. But the instant he opened the door, Sasuke's dark eyes met his and relief washed over him in a cool wave. His little brother was alright. Itachi's lips cracked into a fleeting smile in the darkness behind the ANBU mask. He wished nothing more than to stay with Sasuke, to make sure he was truly alright, within and without. Unfortunately, he could not.

"Do you know anything about _kaa-san_?" Itachi asked.

For once, Sasuke did not assume he was being brushed off. He understood there were greater things at stake than sibling rivalry at the moment. "She was at the stadium," he said. "The last time I saw her she was watching from the tribune, along with everyone else."

His brother had barely moved when Sasuke jumped from the chair. "Wait. I'm coming with you."

Itachi's heart cringed. In what concerned Sasuke, "alright" was a relative term, given the present situation. He was not a medic, but even he could tell his little brother was very close to his limit. Not long after Orochimaru had placed the Cursed Seal on him, Shisui had kept his word and contacted his former classmate, Anko Mitarashi, who bore the same mark. She had warned them that the seal might activate irrespective of Sasuke's will if he ever pushed himself too hard. Perhaps it had done so already, though he was loath to consider it. On the other hand, Sasuke would certainly take another refusal from him as an affront.

Before Itachi could brace himself for the inevitable, Akane's voice cracked like a whip. "Absolutely not," she told the younger Uchiha. "Sit. I haven't even started with you."

Whether she had picked up on his hesitation before Sasuke could or understood the danger better than he thought, Itachi did not know. He was, however, grateful that she had stepped in to play the bad cop. Especially when Sasuke was stunned enough to do as he was told, for once. Itachi nodded in approval.

"I'll see you soon," he told Sasuke.

"Take care of _kaa-san_," his little brother conceded morosely.

"Will do."

In the dozen minutes Itachi had spent inside the hospital, the sky had clouded over and scarce snowflakes were now falling over Konoha's deserted streets. Itachi had dashed across the village's rooftops so many times over the years sometimes he felt like he knew them better than the streets. Here, the blowing wind carried a newfound chill that warned of the waning day. Soon, the sun would set. If the attack had been well planned and executed, Konoha would remain in darkness, its generators taken out. It would remain vulnerable. He hoped that was not the case.

The stadium loomed just ahead, smoke still rising from its side, black bleeding into the grey clouds above. Itachi pushed more _chakra_ into his legs, tapping into his carefully-managed but still dwindling supply. To recover his strength, he should have slept over the night, or had a wholesome meal, or better yet, both. Given the circumstances, it seemed he would have to go without either for a while longer. Still, only one thought echoed in his mind.

_Please be alright, kaa-san._

Itachi ran vertically along the stadium's wall and perched like a hawk at the top to survey the area below. He heard the distant clamor of weapons clashing and tired battle cries, though only a few figures could be seen and most were wearing masks. ANBU masks. He spotted Kakashi and Gai's telltale silver hair and green leotard and they both appeared to be fighting off ANBU in what remained of the arena. So, this was how they had gotten to the heart of everything, he mused, removing his own mask to avoid confusion.

Before he could make his way down, however, the light of a familiar Fire style _jutsu_ lit up half the stadium, drawing his attention. He sensed his _sharingan_ activating because without it, he could not believe his eyes. There were four figures standing in the middle of the arena, surrounded by enemies wearing Konoha ANBU masks. Two of them were Kakashi and Gai. The third, Itachi recognized as Genma, one of the Hokage's bodyguards. The fourth was none other than his own mother.

* * *

Mikoto's _sharingan_ burned as bright as ever, though she had been forced to borrow some _shuriken_ from Kakashi since she had not brought her own weapons to the _chuunin_ finals. Who would have thought? The tribune and the arena were both littered with corpses by now and in spite of that, the enemy still outnumbered them, much to her growing frustration. She had initially joined Genma in covering Sasuke's pursuit of his treacherous opponent, while Kakashi and Gai had cleared the tribunes, but it seemed the enemy had come well prepared. _In numbers, more than anything,_ she told herself.

The three ANBU-masked enemies on her side of their four-man circle charged at the same time as the rest. Mikoto drew air into her lungs while her hands worked through the required seals and _chakra_ whirled within her once more. The flames came out in a roaring blast, which her _sharingan_ saw right through, monitoring each and every move of the figures who thought they had so cleverly avoided a direct attack. What they did not know was that Mikoto Uchiha's greatest pride in her _shinobi_ abilities came from her _shuriken jutsu_.

A momentary _genjutsu_ was all it had taken to conceal her _shuriken_, launched at the same time with the Great Fireball _jutsu_. One seal and the whirring stars burst into flame beyond the enemy line, along with the threads which connected them to her fingers. Mikoto used those to dexterously maneuver the _shuriken _into position. The enemy did not move quickly enough to escape her trap.

One of them, however, had somehow countered her _genjutsu_ and evaded the subsequent techniques. She caught his movement past her defenses from the corner of her eye and managed to shift her body enough for his _kunai_ to only graze her side instead of pierce it. The weapon clanged against another sharp edge instead of her flesh.

"Itachi!" she exclaimed at the sight of her son interposing himself between her and the attacker. Pride swelled her heart, coursing along with the adrenaline. It had been a long time since she had fought, after all. She had almost forgotten what it felt like. "You need to go after Sasuke. That boy from Sand-"

Itachi filled her in while fending off the attacker. "Sasuke's alright. I saw him at the hospital. One of my friends is a medic, she's taking care of him."

Mikoto's eyes stung with tears of relief. One son gone on a confidential mission for over a week without word. The other sent after a creature beyond his capabilities. Her family in shambles, since long before all that. If they did not make up with one another this time around, after everything, she swore to herself she would knock some sense into them.

"Let's finish this, then," was all Mikoto Uchiha said, her voice heavy with resolve.

* * *

Akane could not remember the last time she had slept. Two days before, she had returned from a mission only to slip into her medic coat and keep on fighting, albeit on a different level. Stolen hours of sleep in between surgeries did not count. Half-eaten meals at the cafeteria did not count.

By the time she stepped into the locker room after her last overnight shift, she was so tired she almost fell asleep in the shower while inwardly debating whether she should hang that white coat for good. Blood from the blisters on her feet formed its own rivulets in the water as it washed down into the drain. Her skin burned after she had peeled off her gloves from _chakra _burns. She was a husk, woven from pain.

_Well, since none of them appear to have been run through with the Chidori, or are even in the least bit singed, I'd say you've held up admirably._

Akane burst into a fit of laughter. Then tears. She clamped a hand over her mouth to keep quiet even as she shuddered, halfway in between, opting to blame it all on the exhaustion. Her hands did not and could not still feel sticky with Shisui's blood. She must have washed them hundreds of times since.

_Thanks, Shisui-san. I appreciate it._

The water was so hot that by the time she stepped out of the shower, her whole body steaming in the air coming through the open window, Akane was dizzy. She paused on the bench by the lockers for a moment, waiting for her blood pressure to return to normal.

_That's what friends are for._

She needed to get home. Sleep. Now, not a moment later. Before she lost her mind entirely. Akane fumbled with the small key to her locker, which kept jiggling with the other keys as it slipped in her grasp, missing its destination. At long last, the lock clicked and the door opened. A single, dark hair fell from within the locker. Akane's eyes watched it all the way down to the floor. Such a small thing, carrying such weight.

Rest slipped off her mind entirely. The telltale sign she had put in place as a precaution, a sigil for her eyes alone, had been broken. Someone had picked the lock and been through her things. Even in her state, Akane would have sworn it with a hand in the flames. Even though on a closer inspection the lock showed no visible signs of tampering and nothing was missing from her locker.

From the pocket of her medic coat, Akane removed her one remaining scroll after a visit to the morgue. She wondered if aside from the clue she had committed to memory there might have been anything in it of interest to someone within Konoha.

The remaining question was not how. It was why.

**The title of this chapter is a quote from the Third's last thoughts in the anime: "Where the tree leaves dance, one shall find flames. The fire's shadow will illuminate the village… and once again tree leaves shall bud anew."**


	31. One Shall Find Flames

**Chapter 31 – One Shall Find Flames**

The day was overcast and marked by the recent snowfalls. Seen through the frost flowers which had bloomed on windows overnight, Konoha appeared quiet and subdued in its crisp, white garb. Itachi could not help but feel as if the snow had followed them from the mountains all the way home, given its impeccable timing. Along with something more sinister, perhaps, he mused as he smoothed over an invisible crease on his funeral attire.

The news of Shisui's death had spread like wildfire through the clan, adding a more personal note to today's event. Although in the two days since the attack the clan's members had been working tirelessly to restore order in the village, most of them were now setting all aside to pay their respects. Seeing so many Uchihas filing out of their homes, pouring into the streets like quiet, dark streams joining into a single river made Itachi wonder if there might be a bright side to this. After all, the last time the four of them had left the house together, as a family, it had been for Itachi's graduation from the Academy.

A fluttering sound drew his gaze upwards, to the electricity lines, where a handful of crows had found purchase and were currently watching the procession. Another flew in, squeezing itself between the others in spite of the ample space along the cable. It returned Itachi's gaze with its beady eyes and cawed, a broken noise that seemed too loud in the silence which reigned over the Uchiha district.

Beyond the cemetery gates, they drifted apart wordlessly. Sasuke went to join his team, although Kakashi was not with them yet, likely lingering at the Memorial Stone to pay his respects to the rest of his dead. Their father took his place at the front of the aligned members of Konoha's Police Force, while Mikoto remained with the rest of the Uchiha clan. Itachi saw Tsume with her son and daughter, then spotted Tenzo, who was standing alone and slightly apart from the crowd. He went to join him. On the way, he glanced at the Naras, but did not find Akane among them.

"She dropped by earlier," Tenzo said as Itachi stopped beside him. The man was more observant than some gave him credit for. "Said things are finally back to normal at the hospital and that Hiashi-sama's surgery went well."

Indeed, Hiashi's place at the front of the assembled Hyuugas had been taken by one of their elders. At least his picture was not among those surrounding the Hokage's, up on the dais.

Shisui's was. Itachi's eyes were drawn to it like a magnet each time he looked that way, pulled as if by an invisible thread. That familiar face, crowned by the dark mop that Shisui somehow never managed to quite tame, stood out glaringly among the rest for a single reason. His figure was serious, drawn by the rigid lines that befit any ninja registration photo. Yet Itachi could see those lines on the verge of breaking, about to soften into one of his lighthearted, dimpled smiles.

If there was one thing in which Shisui would always remain miles ahead of him, it was slipping in and out of his _shinobi_ skin seamlessly, almost without conscious effort. Like taking off a raincoat. He was not wearing it in this photo, though he might have fooled others. Itachi knew better. For the longest time, he had been uncertain about his ability to see clearly through Shisui's smokescreens, but it seemed like he had been holding the key all along.

It was the playful light in Shisui's eyes that betrayed him, not for the first time. Those eyes that sometimes spoke when he did not, especially when he thought no one was listening.

Itachi could not remember with certainty the first time he had caught glimpse of _that_ particular look in Shisui's eyes, nor ever having thought to take it apart to discern its meaning. His inquisitive mind had questioned a great many things over time, but never sought to measure the depths of Shisui's affection for him. They had remained something intuited, intrinsically known and accepted, never subjected to active thought until Tsume had spelled it out for him.

For the past two nights, sleep had not come to him until the early hours of the morning, fitful and short-lived even then. That look had haunted many of his sleepless hours and every cut made to dissect it had caused his heart to bleed a little more. A wistful sky, clouded with longing. Only once could Itachi recall those clouds darkening a shade deeper and himself almost sensing the storm, but his own mind had been clouded by fever at the time and he had dismissed the impression upon waking.

There was no doubt about it. Shisui loved him. _Had_ loved him, Itachi mentally corrected himself. Because Shisui was gone, he had burned him himself and his love had turned to ashes along with him. Now all that was left was a gaping hole where Itachi's heart had been, a dark maw filled with bitter wretchedness. Shisui had been mute, Itachi blind, and both of them fools.

People were beginning to file towards the dais to say their goodbyes, leaving behind white chrysanthemums. Snow was falling again, thicker than before. Itachi stared at Shisui's face, forever frozen in that picture. He tasted something metallic on the tip of his tongue and realized he had bitten down on the inside of his lip to keep himself from making a sound. Someone was crying, but it was not him.

_Forgive me._

Itachi spun on his heel and walked away, a shadow trudging through the snow. Pain - real, physical pain, flared up in his side, where Suisen's fingers had jabbed him seemingly ages ago. He clenched his teeth and inadvertently sucked on sharp, cold air, too quickly and too much at once. He stifled a cough and rushed out of the cemetery, away from the crowd and his family, before letting the fit follow its course.

By the time it subsided, he was leaning against the fence, trying to catch his breath without giving himself another one. The snow at his feet was speckled with red. That was not even the worst part. Itachi cleared his throat and straightened up to acknowledge the figure who had approached in the meantime.

"Do you take pleasure in making people uncomfortable, Morino-san?"

Ibiki Morino noted the honorific attached to his last name, but also the cutting tone it had been delivered in. Almost as cutting as the damn cold. The last time they had seen each other, it had been considerably warmer - one of the hottest months of last year's summer, if he remembered correctly. Now here they were, at the antipode. Only the boy appeared to have lost some of that apparent immunity to his charms along the way.

"I'm not responsible for how you feel around me, Uchiha."

"Is there something you want?"

For a moment, Ibiki entertained the idea of pushing his buttons for a little longer. After all, it was not often that he found an interesting subject in such an opportune predicament for him to take advantage of. That, however, seemed a bit too cruel even for him, given the circumstances. Especially since he was about to ruin the boy's day even further. He fished the folded document out of his pocket and handed it to him without a word, waiting for his reaction. He watched the Uchiha's eyes gradually widening as they darted across the paper. When they rose to meet his, however, they were once more unreadable.

"What's this?" Itachi asked.

"I thought you could read. It's an order for an investigation into the proceedings of your latest mission. I was tasked by your ANBU commander to conduct it and I am here to inform you that I will be starting three days from now."

The Hokage normally issued orders to and dealt with reports from ANBU members or teams directly, but there were many things beyond missions which required coordination, the amount of which a Hokage would simply not have time for. Most of the background work meant to keep the ANBU running was hence done by an appointed commander. However, with the Hokage dead, all authority over the ANBU now fell into the hands of that commander, who had so far operated mostly from the shadows. Itachi did not know Yoji Aburame as well as he would have liked.

Investigations such as this were usually initiated when an ANBU team was suspected of having broken protocol and their mission ended up in failure or casualties. It appeared the commander had made quick work of the reports Itachi had submitted only the day before, and found something he had not liked. Itachi had, of course, read his teammates' individual reports himself. Only one of them could have raised enough questions to prompt an inquiry.

"Round up your team, Uchiha," Ibiki said, turning on his heel. "Your medic fucked up and you might all be under fire."

Itachi let the words sink in as the sound of Ibiki's footsteps receded. For the most part, Akane's report corroborated with their own, pertaining to the sequence of events during the battle. In the final part, she admitted to having set out after Suisen on her own, feeling apt to apprehend him while the rest of her team regrouped, only to fall into his trap and be forced to kill him in self-defense.

In truth, Itachi had been curious to know what had transpired between them and he had read that part of Akane's report multiple times. Each time, his initial impression had deepened. It was a convincing story, to be sure – for someone who did not know her. She had managed to pass what he believed to be the real motive for overconfidence and a lapse in judgment. That warranted disciplinary action, naturally, but a whole investigation, given that she had 'come forward'? What reasons did the ANBU commander have to suspect her of lying? After all, there was no mention of the rape in any of the official records. The paper trail suggested only torture, and she had been cleared for work after going through the rehabilitation program.

An investigation meant all of them would be visiting the Konoha Intelligence Division's headquarters in three days' time. Morino would no doubt relish in informing Tenzo and Tsume himself, since they were both here for the funeral. That only left Akane. Itachi wanted to speak to her before he did, so he set off at a brisk pace.

* * *

Her house nestled quietly in the middle of its snow-covered garden, the way up to the door marked by a single set of footprints. It occurred to Itachi that Akane had spent all her time at the hospital since their return and that she might have gone to sleep. He hesitated for a few moments with his hand clasped around the cold metal of the wrought-iron gate, melting the snow which coated it, before finally pushing it open.

There was a pause between his knock and Akane's almost too quiet invitation to 'come in'. Itachi left his shoes in the hallway and stepped inside the living room, where he found her sitting on the floor, between the sofa and the coffee table, with her legs propped up and a cigarette between her fingers. Several butts were already in the ashtray and the air was laced with smoke. It made Itachi wonder if Morino had already informed her of the investigation, perhaps earlier in the morning, at the hospital.

"Didn't Tenzo tell you I dropped by?" she asked, perhaps thinking he had come to check up on her.

He picked up a strange, somewhat strained quality to her voice. Something more than the sheer exhaustion she exuded. It added to his growing suspicion and he ended up answering her question with one of his own.

"Has Morino talked to you?"

Akane appeared genuinely surprised and perhaps a bit confused. "Ibiki Morino?"

Itachi knelt by the coffee table. "The commander has ordered an investigation into our mission. Morino informed me about it today. He seemed to suggest you're the focus."

For the briefest of moments, something crossed Akane's face which confused him. He could have sworn the corner of her mouth had twitched upwards. It was an odd reaction for someone who knew they were soon going to be caught with a lie and it caused him to wonder about her report once more. Had he wrongly assumed her account to be a deception?

"I see," was all she said.

He did not think so. "Akane." She looked at him, her face now blank. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Nothing that concerns you."

The words felt like a slap in the face and Itachi was beginning to feel his calm slipping away, whittled down chip by chip from all sides. "You are still a member of this team and it does concern me. All of us, in fact. I will not-"

"Please, stop." Her gaze, so evasive up until that point, suddenly rose to met his, carrying in it not a challenge, but something bearing more semblance to a warning. "I know have no right to ask this of you after everything, but I need you to trust me. Stay out of this."

An unstoppable force against an immovable object would have likely generated the same tension as the one now building between the two of them, Itachi remarked dryly.

_You and her are alike._

Shisui's voice resounded still so clearly, that memory of him saying the words was still so vivid. At the time, he had not even met Akane. Was this how it had been with him, then? The same, seemingly effortless understanding, preternatural connection?

Itachi suddenly thought back to when he had first heard Akane laugh - actually _laugh. _It had only happened less than two weeks before, during one of their nights in the field, safe inside Tenzo's _Rakuyouan: _her silhouette and Shisui's softly illuminated by the fire burning in the pit, soft, barely audible whispers passing back and forth between them. Itachi had woken to the strangest of sounds, one which should have been familiar and yet was not. He had not merely dreamed of it, of that much he was certain. Shisui had made Akane laugh in less time than anyone had made her smile in the four years since Itachi had known her.

If Itachi did not feel ready to trust Akane again, if he did not quite trust himself with making this decision, he would trust Shisui's judgement one last time. Whatever Akane was not telling him, there was no vengeance left to cloud her mind. Itachi wanted to believe she had good reason for withholding information, even if his faith was starting to run on fumes.

"Fine," he said.

Akane watched Itachi stand up and leave and did nothing to stop him. It was not until the front door clicked shut that the tears overflowed. Her gaze drifted to the sole object on the table besides the ashtray: a dark flute bearing the Hyuuga clan symbol and a nick into its middle that would forever keep it silent. However, in her blind chase after vengeance, it seemed she had unwittingly kicked the hornet's nest.

Suisen knowing her name. Someone breaking into her locker. An investigation, started so promptly, and at a time like this, when things had not even begun to settle down in the aftermath of the attack. Evidence was mounting that suggested an uncomfortable truth: there was a traitor in Konoha. Someone had kept in touch with Suisen, had given him her name and who knew what other intel. Did that someone now suspect Suisen had spilled the beans before his death?

She started chewing on a nail, her mind almost whirring as it went into overdrive. With the Hokage dead, the order for the investigation could have only come from the ANBU commander. Was he connected to the traitor? Perhaps she was becoming paranoid and the investigation had nothing to do with it. One could only hope. Not a _shinobi_ though - Akane could never afford to bet anything on hope alone.

Whatever the truth behind it, the investigation would expose her report for what it was. After all, a half-spun lie was still a lie. She massaged the bridge of her nose, trying to think of a way to come out of this unscathed, even as part of her knew there was none. She had stood, now she would take the fall. However, Akane was determined she would not bring down the rest of the team with her, even if that meant pushing them away.

* * *

The surrounding trees seemed ghostly with their dark, skeletal forms shrouded in snow. Between the intricate designs formed by gnarled, dormant limbs, patches of red could be seen, the backdrop of the trees surrounding Konoha, growing for miles from its outskirts into the countryside. The forest was dead quiet, not a bird daring to chirp in the persistent snowfall, and in that silence, only the Naka river could be heard, babbling on its way along the side of the cliff.

Itachi knew this part of the woods by heart. Every tree, every root, every nook and cranny, burned into his memory, along with every mark the two of them had left upon it over the years: the _kunai_ slashes along trunks, the rusty _shuriken _they used as a hanger, the secret weapon stashes. This had been their place, Shisui's and his. It seemed strange, unfamiliar and almost unwelcoming without him. Perhaps he should not have come. His heart was still bleeding. Yet he stood in place, rooted in the space they had once shared and unable to tear himself away.

Over the past days he had kept his hands busy and his mind shut by helping around Konoha in any way he could, leaving himself open to the hurt only at night, when there was nowhere left for him to run. The funeral had marked an ending, of sorts. There was no running from the finality of it. Shisui was well and truly gone.

Sasuke peered from behind a tree at the lone, dark figure in the middle of the small clearing. The bark was cold and rough under his calloused palm, although he did not need the support, given that he was continuously pushing _chakra_ into his soles to keep himself atop the snow. Underneath it, there were plenty of rocks and roots to trip him and besides, he wanted to keep his presence concealed. While it was not exactly his intent to sneak up on Itachi to spy, he could not help but feel like an intruder in this place.

The two of them had not had time to talk since that time at the hospital. Itachi ran off during the day as if all responsibility to restore Konoha to state of normalcy rested on his shoulders alone, and went to sleep right after dinner. Team 7 had been given its own share of chores around the village after they had been discharged from the hospital. Their paths had intersected, but never for long. And then, at the funeral…

Sasuke frowned as he thought back to what he had been unable to get out of his head since. He had not thought much about seeing his brother storm off in the middle of the ceremony, at first. It had seemed a bit strange, considering it was Shisui's funeral, too, but he supposed people dealt with their grief in many ways. However, he had then happened to overhear a hushed conversation between some of their clansmen, who had noticed his brother's impromptu departure as well. Words that would have once angered him had instead stirred a strange kind of curiosity. How well could he claim to know Itachi?

"You can come out, Sasuke."

Sasuke froze behind the tree, not for the first time taken aback by his older brother's preternatural sense of his surroundings. He then shuffled out of the cover and trudged through the snow to close the distance between them. For a while, neither of them said anything, content to merely watch the silent snowfall and blink away the snowflakes that clung to their eyelashes. Sasuke's mind was brimming with questions, but he dared not ask any yet. Instead, he chose the subtle approach and let out a soft sound, a sigh which misted before his eyes in the winter air.

"I'm sorry about Shisui," Sasuke said. "I know he was… like a brother to you."

The words had not come easily. Deep down, perhaps his dislike of Shisui had always stemmed from jealousy, though he was loath to consider it even now. The truth was the truth, regardless of how it made him feel: Itachi had always sought Shisui's company and preferred it to Sasuke's. One of the conversation's partakers had been wrong in suggesting their friendship might have been carefully cultivated over time. There had been nothing ingenuine about it, to Sasuke's mind. But what about the rest?

"Thank you," Itachi said.

His eyes were bloodshot and sunken into his skull, the lines on his face more pronounced than before, pointing to the downturned corners of his lips. Whether he was overcome with grief or haunted by guilt, Sasuke could not tell. Itachi was adept at keeping up appearances, and all his haggard state suggested was a chronic lack of rest. If only he were not so damn hard to read.

"You left before it was over," Sasuke said cautiously, after some mental vacillation.

"There was something I had to do."

The response had come without a single missed beat or a blink out of place. There was nothing for Sasuke to grasp at, except Itachi's being purposely vague. Could that be taken as a hint in itself? Sasuke racked his brains, turning over in his mind all the observation, interrogation and data collecting theory hammered into every _genin_ during their years in the Academy. He had been the best in his class, yet Itachi remained well beyond his skill level. He was almost tempted to throw all caution to the wind.

Shisui had been assigned to Itachi's team, one of only two ANBU teams with a medic-nin. Months later, he was dead. Shisui - one of the brightest, most promising Uchiha currently in active duty, the only one said to be on par with Itachi. His best friend.

_If you ask me, he did it for the eyes. Might have been negligence, might have been more. But one thing's for sure: Shisui's death benefitted him._

Much of the actual conversation had already blurred in Sasuke's mind, broken down into easier-to-handle concepts he now juggled with almost obsessively. Those few sentences, however, had stayed with him word by word. It had been all he could think of on his way back from the funeral. Once, he would have been outraged, perhaps even risen to his brother's defense then and there. But Sasuke the brother was subdued and Sasuke the _shinobi_ found himself entertaining the notion that Itachi may have had something to do with Shisui's death.

No one who survived this long in the _shinobi_ world was beyond doubt or reproach. Power meant safety. It made the difference between life and death. His most recent brush with death had been looking into the eyes of the monster Sabaku no Gaara had morphed into. After Orochimaru and the Demonic Mirrors, he could not help but feel as if the _shinigami_ were breathing down on the back of his neck at every turn. Orochimaru's cursed seal had saved him this time, but he did not like the idea of depending on it to survive.

"I heard there's a stronger version of the _sharingan_," Sasuke began. "An advanced form. Do you know anything about it?"

"Where did you hear about that?"

Sasuke shrugged. "Does it matter? I just want to know if it's true." He realized trying to act like himself while putting on a show felt strange. It was easier to pretend to be someone else. He was not entirely sure Itachi would fall for it, but after what felt like the longest moments in his life, his brother spoke in a quiet, even tone.

"It's called the _Mangekyou sharingan_. It does grant powerful abilities."

"How does one obtain it?"

The pause was longer this time. There was no change in Itachi's expression, but when he finally turned his gaze to Sasuke there was something in it that chilled him. Had he been too direct? Had Itachi caught on to his subtleties and intuited the real reason behind them?

"You're better off without it," was all Itachi said.

Sasuke felt a spark of anger. It caught fire before reason could stop it when he saw his brother turning on his heel to leave. "You don't get to decide for me, Itachi!" he said. "I'll find out, one way or another."

Itachi stopped. "Why don't you ask me about what you really want to know?"

The younger Uchiha froze again. Once more, his brother hit the mark. He gritted his teeth, as though it could stop the words from tumbling out, one after another. "Did you kill Shisui for it?" The question hanged in the air, unanswered. Doubt was creeping in. What if the answer turned out to be the one he did not want to hear? No, it did not matter. He needed to know.

"Tell me!" he shouted.

Itachi's back straightened. "I'll do you one better, _otouto._" He peered over his shoulder and Sasuke immediately noticed the red in his eyes. However, the _sharingan's _three _tomoe _suddenly bled black and coalesced into a new pattern.

"I'll show you," Itachi said.

**Before you jump to kill me, please remember that the Tsukuyomi is not solely used for torture. This is not exactly meant as a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, even though there was a lot of description in it. I tried, but I couldn't work my way around that. This is how I envisioned it. Stay safe!**


	32. Heart of Darkness

**Chapter 32 – Heart of Darkness**

Sasuke felt the snare of Itachi's _genjutsu_, sensed his brother pulling at the threads that weaved reality around him. His first instinct was to fight it off and his own _sharingan _activated to counter it, but to no avail. The new reality settled in at Itachi's leisure, its pieces arranging themselves under the influence of his new _sharingan_ to reshape the forest around them. In less time than it took one to blink, the world of white around them turned black, trapped under a red sky.

"What is this _genjutsu_?" Sasuke asked, unable to keep emotion from his voice. Awe, laced with apprehension. He had never felt anything like this _jutsu_ before. The illusion had been so seamlessly layered around him it might have fooled his _sharingan_. He was only aware and able to perceive the trappings of this world because Itachi was allowing it, he realized.

"_Tsukuyomi," _Itachi answered, deadpan.

Sasuke swallowed the lump in his throat and focused on steadying his breathing. _Calm down_, he told himself. Itachi would not really hurt him… would he? Still, this was not what he had asked for. He was powerless here, unable to break free, and it left him entirely at his older brother's mercy. His older brother, who did have the _Mangekyou_ after all. The question of how he had obtained it suddenly weighed a whole lot more in Sasuke's mind. _Calm down._

He held on to those words until his training kicked in and the panic began to subside. His mind was slowly returning to reason and though creaking at first, the cogs started spinning. Beyond its intended purpose, perhaps this _genjutsu_ could be used as a window of opportunity. How much time had he spent wondering, over the years, about what was going on in Itachi's head? About his life? His dreams and desires? All Sasuke had chased after for so very long was now only a breath away, and all he had to do was stay and play his cards right. If Itachi was willing to answer straight, for once, Sasuke would make sure to provide him with questions.

His movement was unrestricted, so he took advantage of that to have a better look at his surroundings. He realized that the clearing was larger than before, lined by species of trees which, to his knowledge, grew at higher altitudes than Konoha's – this was a different place altogether. It was snowing here too, but each snowflake was hanging in the air, motionless, indefinitely suspended. He could reach out and pluck them one by one if he wanted to. Nothing moved except for Itachi and him, like everything was frozen in time.

_And everyone. _Sasuke's _sharingan _made quick work of the people around them, who were as unnaturally still as the rest of this phantom world. There were five of them, three of which were wearing Konoha ANBU masks. Sasuke recognized Itachi among them, behind a cat mask, then Shisui, sporting a stylized weasel. The third ANBU member he did not know, but it was not the medic. She was nowhere to be seen, he realized. Then his attention turned to the remaining two persons in the clearing.

"What's the meaning of this?" he asked, feeling the strain in his eyes as they struggled to make sense of the blur that concealed their faces, making them indiscernible. All he could see clearly were their black robes with a white-lined cloud motif.

"This is still confidential information," Itachi said. "You don't need to know who they are, only that they were the enemy."

Sasuke made an effort to smooth out a frown as his gaze was inevitably drawn back to the blurred figures: a man and a woman, judging by their stature and silhouettes, somewhat defined even under the baggy cloaks. But still, only two of them. Outnumbered and up against two of the Uchiha clan's best. How had this confrontation ended with Shisui's death? Surely Itachi would not be so eager to reveal this to him had he played a hand in it.

A shudder rippled through Sasuke as a Wind Style _jutsu _suddenly blasted through the clearing, blowing away snow and causing the trees on the far side to groan and bend under its power. Time had started flowing within the _genjutsu_ world, and it caught him off guard as the frigid gale slammed into him and knocked the air from his lungs. Itachi had managed to make the illusion artfully immersive. Just how powerful was the _Tsukuyomi? _How deep within the psyche did its roots breach, how wide could it branch out? His head was brimming with questions, but Sasuke had little time to dwell on them. He had not even heard the _jutsu's _name being uttered, let alone managed to identify its caster. By the time he turned in the direction the gust had come from, the figures around them had already sprung into motion.

Without the _sharingan_, he doubted he would have been able to follow their movements. The muscles in his legs quickly started quivering with tension. His ears were ringing and the pressure in his chest made his breath superficial and rapid. It was a familiar set of sensations. Zabuza. Orochimaru. Only _shinobi_ of a certain caliber radiated this kind of energy and the clearing was thrumming with it now. Even fully aware that it was no more than _genjutsu_, his body still responded to the threat of death as if it were imminent. As fast as he had run to catch up to Itachi, as much as he had trained, had he been involved in such a confrontation, Sasuke knew he would have died. Plain and simple.

"Do you want me to stop it?"

Sasuke glared at Itachi as fire and water clashed with a hiss in the background. He could feel the warm, ensuing mist against his cheeks. "No." _I need to see. I need to know what it's like._

_To defeat such enemies or to watch a friend die? _Another part of him wondered. The question chilled him to the bone. The first time, he had laid down his life to protect Naruto. The second time he had looked into death's eyes, it had been to protect his teammates from Orochimaru. Was his own life worth so little to him? Did Itachi value his more? After all, surely not everyone in Konoha went by Kakashi's creed. And if not to protect others, what did they all fight for? _To stay alive_, that base creature within him answered from the lair it had carved into his heart. _To survive another day._

A momentary pause came over the battlefield. The illusory Itachi and Shisui exchanged words, too hushed to make out. There was a shift in the air. Sasuke's gaze immediately went to his left, where he saw one of the enemies summon a large, circular sword from a scroll. A moment later, the woman lunged for her partner.

"What's going on? Why is she attacking him?" Sasuke asked, unable to shake his confusion. It could have been a feint, but it certainly did not look like it and in any case, he did not see how it would be effective in the situation.

"Shisui's _Mangekyou_," Itachi explained. "It could cast a subtle, but very powerful _genjutsu_, making its targets believe they were acting of their own free will."

Another shudder coursed through Sasuke. He remembered how awakening the _sharingan_ in the fight against Haku had felt like a shroud being lifted from his eyes, baring the world around him down to the finest details. Like he could finally, truly see. The power within the Uchiha bloodline had thrummed in his veins for the first time in a heady combination of exhilaration and adrenaline. If the _sharingan_ opened the door to such possibilities, the _Mangekyou… _what would it feel like to possess such eyes? To hold such power in a single glance? A shiver slithered down his spine. The price was too high. Looking at Shisui, Sasuke buried the yearning, deeming it unseemly. He forced his attention back to the ongoing fight.

It should have been game over. Except Sasuke knew it could not be.

Even trapped, ensnared by roots which had shot up from the ground, the male member of the duo managed to cheat the death gleaming along the edge of his partner's sword. He then freed himself and struck back at his teammate: a single, precise blow into her spine that sent her sprawling into the snow, unconscious. The guy's _taijutsu_ style seemed familiar, somehow, it had tugged at Sasuke's memory before, but try as he might, he could not place his finger on it.

He had little time to rack his brains over it. At long last, he noticed the medic creep in from the woods to tend to the unfamiliar ANBU. Meanwhile, Itachi and Shisui were demonstrating textbook coordination in tackling the remaining enemy. The blaze their joint _Goukakyuu no Jutsus _formed almost hurt his eyes. His face certainly felt the heat and he backed away from the vortex of flames, fearing his skin would be scorched otherwise. Surely no one could survive that blast.

"I don't get it," Sasuke grumbled. "They're outnumbered and injured, at the very least. You had the upper hand."

"Yes," Itachi said calmly, pretending not to notice his insinuation.

"Then how?" Sasuke insisted. "How did Shisui die?"

"If you think I'm showing you this fight just to disprove what you've heard, you're mistaken."

For the first time, it occurred to Sasuke that the truth may be somewhere in the middle, that Shisui's death may have been the consequence of a tactical mistake on Itachi's part. It would explain some of his brother's odd behavior, why he had brought him here instead of just saying 'yes' or 'no', why he was still dancing around the answer. But was the Uchiha clan's genius heir even capable of something as human as erring? Sasuke wondered sardonically, even as envy crept along in the shadow of that thought.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked.

"Are you paying attention?" Itachi replied.

Sasuke bit back a harsh reply and settled for something milder. "I think you should get some rest before you lose it, _nii-san_. You've been acting weird; no wonder people are starting to get ideas."

"You asked me if I killed Shisui, so you must have entertained those ideas yourself."

There was no malice in Itachi's tone, no accusation, yet there was something there that made Sasuke feel guilty. "You could have said no," he said stubbornly. "Maybe I would have even believed you."

Itachi said nothing. From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke noticed the enemy emerging from the joint _Goukakyuu _attack somehow unscathed, if a little out of breath. The hell kind of a defense had he employed to survive that? He had been distracted by the conversation and underestimated the enemy's resourcefulness. The illusion would not wait for him to catch up. Before Sasuke could even get over his surprise, the illusory Itachi took on the enemy without a moment's hesitation.

Another movement caught his attention. _Impossible_, he thought as he watched the woman in the black cloak rising from the ground on unsteady feet. She garnered Shisui's attention, too.

"Is she still…?"

"No."

"I thought you said it was a powerful _genjutsu_."

"The attempt to dispel it could have killed her."

Unfortunate that it had not, but something else occurred to him: "How did he even figure out how to-" Sasuke began, only to stop and tsk when Itachi gave him a pointed look he knew all too well. It was like his brother expected him to solve a puzzle without giving him all the pieces. The idle thought intrigued him. Was that what Itachi was trying to do by showing him the whole fight? Impart some sort of lesson? It could not be that. Itachi never taught him anything.

"What the hell is she doing?" Sasuke asked, watching as her _shuriken_ missed Shisui by a long shot and spun into a tangle of wires from a previously disabled trap. Not even Naruto would mess up his throws so badly. He was about to remark upon it as Shisui's hands came together to form seals, only to stop. Something was clearly wrong. That something was glimmering faintly all over him, impairing his movement. Sasuke could feel his _sharingan_ straining to make out the thin, opalescent filaments, which only glinted where the light fell on them from certain angles. "Is that… spider web?"

His question remained unanswered.

"Too slow!" the woman's voice sounded instead. Their weapons met in a shower of sparks, their faces coming close enough to lean into a kiss.

Sasuke's stomach cringed, then plummeted as if he had swallowed a boulder when he saw the turning point. A low blow. He had not expected it. Neither had Shisui. Disgusting and disgraceful, it nevertheless had the desired outcome, allowing the woman to succeeded in breaking through his defenses. Momentarily blinded and slowed, even Shisui could not dodge the inevitable strike that carved a bloody path across his chest. To think the actions which would have made anyone question the woman's sanity had robbed Shisui of his greatest advantages… Sasuke was speechless.

He stole a glance at Itachi – the real Itachi, who was standing beside him, still and quiet, as his ANBU-attired counterpart faced off one enemy and Shisui backed away from the other. Was it the odd chromatic of this _genjutsu_ or did his brother look paler than before? Was this the beginning of the end, then? As far as Sasuke could tell, Shisui's wound was not deep enough to be problematic. Certainly nothing a medic could not fix. The Nara woman must have seen and treated her fair share of such injuries.

But Shisui's opponent was giving him no respite. His attempts to put some distance between them were fruitless as she brandished her sword and lunged for him, relentless. She was leaving herself entirely open to a counterattack, almost like she was taunting Shisui, who had no more than a split second to defend himself. Sasuke's heart skipped a beat when he realized his cousin was late in reacting. The sword's edge gleamed silver and crimson as it cut through the air.

Sasuke could not stop the gasp that slipped past his lips when the sword bit into something less an arm's length away from Shisui. The metal reverberated. The woman yanked it out and jumped back as a ghostly, green figure took form around Shisui. At first skeletal, the _chakra_ construct fleshed up and armored itself in quick sequence, rising slowly to tower over the clearing, godlike.

"_Susanoo,"_ Itachi explained without waiting for Sasuke to ask - a small mercy, since his throat felt too dry and tight and was unlikely to produce any sounds at the moment. "The ultimate technique of the _Mangekyou sharingan_. An almost impenetrable defense."

Ever since Sasuke could remember, his older brother had been hailed as a genius. He could only now understand just what that meant, looking up at the ethereal giant conjured by their cousin_._ Itachi had shined on his own all this time, under his own name and in his own right, even in the shadow of everything Shisui was capable of, despite being years younger than him and not yet in possession of those same eyes. What did having the _Mangekyou sharingan_ make him now?

_And where does that leave me?_

The sound of an explosion somewhere to his left drew Sasuke's attention to that side of the clearing, where a dark cloud unfurled. The smoke was so potent as to be impenetrable to his _sharingan_, which was otherwise capable of perceiving movement at a decent enough range through standard-issue smoke bombs. He intuited Itachi had been caught in it and was proven right a few moments later, when his brother darted backwards out of the cloud. Whatever had happened inside, though, had not gone well for him. He watched the medic rush in to heal him as Shisui's _Susanoo _extended a fist to shield them both from harm.

"How long have you been sick?" Sasuke asked. Groggy as he had been at the time, he distinctly remembered a scene at the hospital, where he had ended up after the _chuunin_ exam preliminary rounds. The Nara woman giving Itachi medicine, which he had quickly pocketed upon noticing he was awake. _A fresh batch_, she had said.

"A while."

"Is it serious?"

"Persistent. It's under control."

Sasuke had the impression Itachi's second answer was less candid than the first, though he could not say what had tipped him off. Itachi's mien was as unreadable as usual. "_Kaa-san_ would chain you to your bed if she knew."

"We shouldn't make her worry needlessly."

Sasuke allowed a smirk to tug at his lips. "More than we already do? Don't worry, I'll keep quiet." He then peered at his brother from the corner of his eyes. "But you'd better have it under control."

Itachi showed no sign of having been caught with a lie. Sasuke deemed it sufficient that he got the message and redirected his attention to the fight just as the _Susanoo_ unleashed a volley of _chakra_ needles upon the enemy. He was certain it would catch the woman, but her partner jumped in at the last moment to cover her. Whatever the technique he performed was, it managed to deflect every needle, though it left him winded and likely without much _chakra_.

Sasuke's eyes, however, moved past him, drawn to the dark stain spreading on the front of Shisui's uniform. Against that darkness, his skin had the pallor of marble. Every _shinobi_ received basic training in first aid, and though the subject was not one of his favorites, he had strived to obtain top grades in everything they taught at the Academy. Sasuke was certain he had not mistaken the severity of that injury. That certainty led him to an abrupt realization.

"That sword was coated in something," he said, unable to keep a slight tremor from his voice.

Itachi closed his eyes. "Spider venom."

And there it was. A weight settled in Sasuke's stomach. The medic finished healing Itachi and sprinted out of the _Susanoo's _cover, making for Shisui's position only to be intercepted by the enemy halfway. Like a house of cards, all their advantages were toppling one after another, faster than any of them could put a stop to it. Disruption and subversion had served the enemy better. Shisui was running out of time. With the medic caught, he had not stood a chance.

A familiar sound reached him just as he was about to turn his gaze from the Nara woman. He spotted the flash of electricity fading from around her body, fast as a lightning strike but enough to cause the enemy to release her. She initiated a follow-up _jutsu_ almost seamlessly after that and the shadows which swept over the battlefield succeeded in staggering the enemy. But when a second, this time unmistakable _Chidori, _crackled in her hand it did so only for a moment before she killed it and rushed to Shisui's side instead.

Admissions never came easily. Apologies even less so. But this one had to be made. "I'm sorry I doubted you," Sasuke told his brother.

The _Susanoo _devolved, layer by layer, before vanishing. Shisui could barely stand, let alone sustain it, until he could not even do that anymore. Sasuke could not bear to watch and turned his gaze away. Itachi was still looking, he noticed. For some reason, it wrung his heart like nothing in this illusion had.

"I may not have killed Shisui," Itachi said, "but I have plenty of blood on my hands. You were right to doubt me, Sasuke."

"Doesn't every _shinobi _have blood on their hands_?_"

Itachi did not immediately reply. A whole murder of crows descended from the sky, obscuring Shisui and the medic from their view as snowflakes began floating up instead of falling. The illusory world started to crumble, like ashes off a burning piece of paper, until there was nothing left of it but for an empty black field, endless under the weight of a glaring, red sky.

A figure appeared behind Itachi: a young man, whose faraway gaze could have been mistaken for a dreamy one if not for the wet, glistening, red seeping out of the sword wound in his chest. Then a woman, younger still, with wide eyes the color of periwinkle and a purple line across her pale neck. Then another person joined them. And another. And another. One by one, they gathered up, until hundreds were crowding around the two of them, all bearing the same, glassy, empty stare. Some wore _hitai-ate_ with symbols Sasuke did not even know. In perfect unison, all of them raised their arms to point at Itachi.

"The _sharingan_ doesn't let us forget," he said.

Sasuke could not tear his eyes from the three short figures standing in the front, wearing the four, vertical lines of Amegakure on the metal plate of their forehead protectors. They could not have been much younger than him. They were pointing an accusing finger at their killer, just like everyone else. The girl almost resembled Sakura. He shuddered.

"If it's power you want, Sasuke, I won't stop you," Itachi continued. "But remember what it cost me and remember that it didn't help Shisui."

Whatever questions Sasuke had had, whatever answers he had thought to demand, turned to ashes in his mouth. What would it be like, he wondered, to feel the weight of so many dead eyes upon himself, to face them every night in his dreams, to walk through life knowing they did not and never would again… because of him? Was this what a _shinobi _was? A murderer, hiding under the guise of a protector? One capable of carrying the burden of all the souls whose life one had ended? Of all the friends one had lost?

"Itachi…"

"All I ever wanted was to protect you. I understand now that I won't be able to do that forever. If you insist on following in my footsteps, I thought you should at least know where they lead."

The fabric of the world rippled. Sasuke's whole body thrummed with it, as if he were a part of it, like the ghosts Itachi turned to dust with a single look. The ground broke up underneath his feet, the pieces morphing into cawing crows all around him. The threads were unraveling under the pull of sheer power. The crows flew upwards, toward the red heavens, forming black clouds that coalesced into the pinwheel of Itachi's _Mangekyou_.

That image was the last to fade from Sasuke's mind as he was tossed out of the illusion and back into reality. His stomach turned violently, disagreeing with his throbbing head upon which direction the world was spinning in. Sasuke fell unto his knees to empty its contents, then crawled aside while gasping for air and lay down in the snow, unable to support his own weight on limbs that felt like noodles. Any amount of coordination would likely take some time.

Something shuffled nearby. Itachi's face came into view, hovering above him like a dark sun eclipsing the sky. There was some blood smeared on one of his cheeks, but his eyes were dark now. _Powerless_.

"Leave me be, this feels nice," Sasuke managed to say as he felt Itachi's hand digging underneath his back in an attempt to move him. All he really wanted was to lie in the snow for its icy embrace to anchor him into reality, to ground him as the world spun on without him.

"You'll catch a cold."

"I don't care."

A small pause. "_Kaa-san _will chain us both to our beds."

Sasuke snorted. Then he burst into a weary fit of laughter. The world started spinning again as Itachi pulled him onto his back, but Sasuke did not try to stop him - not that he would have had the strength. Besides, it reminded him of better times. Truth be told, he and Itachi had always been worlds apart, but at the end of the day, they were still brothers. Whatever came between them, whatever Itachi was and whatever Sasuke would become, nothing could change this. His head felt too heavy to hold up, though. Before he knew it, his cheek was resting against his brother's shoulder.

"Itachi."

"Hm?"

"You'll put me down before anyone sees us, right?"

Itachi felt his lips crack into a smile. _"Aa," _he said after a moment. Sasuke, however, was already asleep.

**Overdue again. In my defense, the word document got corrupted after my decrepit laptop crashed one day, when I was close to finishing. I was so upset I couldn't write for days. Here it is, though, all rewritten. I hope you enjoyed! :) **


	33. Heart of Secrets

**Chapter 33 – Heart of Secrets**

"When did you first realize Akane Nara was gone?"

Tenzo rubbed his chin, eyes shooting upwards as he thought back to that exact moment. Sitting in the chair across from him, one leg casually set over the other, Ibiki Morino was scribbling on a clipboard with an air of something resembling boredom, like this whole thing was no more than a formality and beneath his station. From the other side of a one-way mirror, his own interview come and gone, Itachi was not still buying it.

"I suppose it was right after Uchiha-_taichou_ asked where she was. I looked around and didn't see her."

"When's the last time you remember seeing her before that?" Ibiki asked, his eyes flitting up to meet Tenzo's before delving back into his papers.

"Rising from Shisui-san's side. I remember it clearly because it was when I realized he must have been… gone. For her to stop treatment, that is. It couldn't have been more than a couple of minutes before."

Ibiki finished writing and looked up again, one finger tapping lightly against the top of the clipboard a few times. Itachi could only assume he had a template for the interview in those papers, since he had so far asked Tenzo the same questions he had asked him. If any discrepancies were to tip him off, that was when Morino would no doubt veer off course like the bloodhound he was, but so far, Tenzo's account corroborated with his own. Naturally. They had not lied in their reports and were not about to start now.

"So, you realized she was gone. What happened next?"

"Uchiha-_taichou_ asked me to locate her."

"And you did that how, exactly?"

"They had all previously swallowed my tracking seeds." Tenzo then proceeded to explain how his Transmission Wood _jutsu_ worked. Ibiki listened patiently, without interrupting him. Once or twice he picked up the pen to write again, but only briefly.

"And did you pick up the signal from Akane Nara's seed?"

"I was unable to," Tenzo replied.

"Was she out of the five-mile range?"

A feint, Itachi noted. Ibiki was casting a net, trying to catch Tenzo with a lie by offering him a tempting way out of the uncomfortable questioning. However, no _shinobi_ could run such a distance within the timespan Tenzo had previously given between the last time he had seen Akane and the moment he had activated his Transmission Wood _jutsu_.

"No," Tenzo answered truthfully. "I don't think she could have. I just couldn't detect her seed."

"Could the signal have been… jammed, so to say?"

Tenzo shook his head. "No. The seed would have had to be destroyed for the signal to disappear from within range."

"You said the seeds were ingested. How could they be destroyed in this case?"

"Well, they have a layer that's resistant to the naturally acidic environment within the stomach, but it does have its limits. An abnormal level of acidity could eat through that protective layer and destroy the seed."

"Your teammate is a medic-nin. Do you think she could have somehow… tampered with it?"

Itachi tensed. Tenzo was a smart man. He may not have known the whole truth, but he did not need it to put two and two together as far as this particular question was concerned. To tell it true would damn a colleague of four years. To lie would no doubt come to the surface and turn against him at some point. Ibiki was baiting him again, this time going in closer for the kill. It seemed that Tenzo, however, planned to remain on his feet.

"I believe this interview requires me to tell the truth, not indulge in speculation. I'm not a medic-nin myself. I wouldn't know the exact extent of one's abilities, Morino-san."

Ibiki showed no sign of being thwarted, merely went on scribbling with the same look of feigned disinterest about him. Tenzo's ingenuity was to be applauded. So far, he had successfully danced around the traps laid out for him while still managing to give the impression that he was unaware of them. Itachi knew better. Tenzo's calm, often quiet demeanor caused people to underestimate him. His wit was sharper than most under that unassuming appearance. It had served him well today.

Truth be told, it had been neither his own nor Tenzo's interview Itachi was most concerned about. Tsume was up next. Although she had not been there for most of the scene making the focus of Ibiki's investigation, she could still potentially provide him with insights that would call Akane's behavior into question. He had never known Tsume to be petty, but in light of their recent altercations, who could say? A lot had changed lately.

Beyond that, it was Akane's own interview that crowned Itachi's worries for team Yon. She would have to face not only Ibiki, but also someone from Inoichi Yamanaka's Analysis Team. The more he thought about their last conversation – and it had been on his mind over the past couple of days - the more Itachi gained the impression that she was cutting them loose. Being caught with a lie would likely cause her to lose her position within the ANBU, perhaps even her medical license. Was she bracing herself for the fall and trying not to drag them all down with her?

What difference did it make? A traitor to the village had died, yes. The higher ups often did not bat as much as an eyelash over rogue-nin being permanently dealt with as opposed to being dragged back to Konoha. It was less of a bureaucratic headache and financially easier on the village that way. A prominent family like the Hyuugas was also likely to prefer this whole affair kept quiet. So what if the medic had been the one to do it? She was still an ANBU operative, perfectly trained to kill herself. The most anyone could accuse Akane of was insubordination.

Try as he may, Itachi could not shake the feeling that this investigation's focus was not what it seemed. His hands, however, were tied. Even if he was right in suspecting an ulterior motive to this, there was nothing he could do to bring it to light.

* * *

There were days in winter when no matter how many layers of clothes one wore, the cold seemed to slip through them all, one after another. Today appeared to be one of those days. Akane's breath misted even through the thick muffler draped around her neck, which she had pulled up to shield her face from the cutting wind. Wrapped in gloves and shoved into the pockets of her coat, her hands were still ice-cold.

The recent snowfalls would have buried the cemetery whole if not for the caretakers clearing the gravestones every day. The wind howled distantly above Konoha, then whirled down among the graves, sweeping the paths. It blew cold powder into her eyes, but she trudged on.

The Memorial Stone rested under a thick blanket of snow. Akane had visited this place so many times over the years she did not need to read the names etched into its shiny surface to know where to find them. Her mother and father had died defending Konoha on the night of the _Kyuubi _attack. They were both here, reduced to nothing but a series of scratches in the cold stone, one underneath the other. Koga was not much further to the left, a rather reluctant addition at the time, but one the Ino-Shika-Chou clans had all fought for tooth and nail.

Her eyes already knew precisely where to find those three names. A few days ago, however, another one had been added. Her fingers brushed away the snow, looking for it near the end, and lingered there when she found it.

_That's what friends are for._

Akane did not believe in ghosts. This was nothing but her own conscience haunting her, taunting her with his words. She had once promised she would never let another friend die, had chosen her path to honor that promise. She had broken it and made another. Would she only end up breaking this one, too? Her hand balled into a fist and slipped from the stone to fall at her side, numb. She was still angry, both with Shisui and herself. Perhaps she had come here too soon.

"Yo. Long time."

Akane was so distraught she had not noticed another presence in her vicinity. Of course, he was a former ANBU member himself; one with more experience in the field that she was now likely to ever gain. She turned her weary gaze to him. "Kakashi-_senpai," _she said in greeting. It appeared she was not the only one undeterred by bad weather when it came to haunting this place.

"How's Itachi holding up?" he asked before the silence could stretch beyond comfort. Not that his question did anything to help in that respect.

"We haven't spoken lately."

She felt Kakashi's uncovered eye lingering on her as he measured her words. He had likely picked up on what they meant, though could only speculate as to the reason behind it. It was not uncommon for a colleague's death to give rise to tensions within a team, after all. Kakashi was too considerate to inquire, having known loss himself. Akane would have been safe behind that smokescreen, but it felt wrong to let the blame fall on Shisui when the fault was hers alone.

"You were right, back then," she said softly. _I chose vengeance and now I'm bleeding out, too._

It only took Kakashi a few moments to catch on. "I see," he said.

His gaze turned to the Memorial Stone. He had no reason to care, but even so, Akane could not help but wonder if letting people down was becoming a habit. One more thing slipping through her fingers, spiraling out of control.

Kakashi's voice seemed to come from far away, but it did reach her. _"Maa, _what's done is done. You salvage what you can and you move forward. There is no other way."

Akane could certainly see the wisdom in that. The only thing left to figure out was what she could salvage from within a house burning down around her. She had already saved what she had thought worth saving. Right now, it seemed like the flames were closing in, barring her way out. Instinct was telling her to douse them first, but that was easier said than done when the fire was Ibiki Morino and she was sitting on a barrel of oil. Moreover, was there someone fanning the flames?

Kakashi was still right regardless, of course. There was no going back. There would be no giving in either, even if it meant going up in those flames.

"Thank you," Akane told him. "I'll see you around, Kakashi-_senpai."_

She left him with his ghosts. She still had some of her own to appease.

* * *

"So, you weren't there when Akane Nara left the battlefield?"

"No."

"Where you there when she returned?"

"Yes."

"What happened when she did?"

"Uchiha-_taichou_ had a word with her, I think. I didn't hear any of it."

Ibiki jotted down something before his next question. "How would you describe your teammate?"

A bloodhound, indeed, Itachi thought from behind the one-way mirror. Difficult as it was to tell where Tsume's hostility was directed, he had picked up on the undercurrent in her recount of the events. Itachi half expected Tsume to ask which teammate, but she did not play coy this time. Her eyes darted to Kuromaru, who was sitting stoically by her side.

"Dependable."

"Which is to be expected of a _shinobi_ of her rank, not to mention a medic-nin," Ibiki said, leaning forward in a challenge to Tsume's own defensive pose. "What's Akane Nara like _as a person?"_ he clarified. When Tsume delayed replying, Ibiki pressed the issue. "Would you describe her as overconfident? Impulsive? Unruly?"

Tsume scoffed. "I think you have the two of us all wrong, Morino."

Itachi could almost hear Ibiki's trap spring shut. With that one truth, warm out of Tsume's golden heart, Akane's account would begin to fall apart. Her story rested on all the things she was not. In that, she had failed to fool him and now Ibiki would know, too. It was nothing but a lie, soon to be exposed. If someone had wanted the truth uncovered so badly, Itachi dreaded to think of the consequences.

His fingers twitched, aching to curl into fists and bang against the mirror. An impulse, quickly curbed. Proof that a human heart still beat in him, though this was not the time for it. It never seemed to be. How many times had he killed such impulses throughout the years to be the weapon Konoha needed him to be? Every time, it took something from him. Would there be anything left in the end?

"Send her in," Ibiki told Tsume as she made for the exit.

Itachi braced himself. His gaze moved to the door, which opened not long after it had closed behind Tsume. Akane unwrapped a scarf from around her neck, took off her jacket to hang it and sat in the chair facing Ibiki without waiting for an invitation. She seemed poised enough, sending none of the signals of one about to be interrogated. Certainly not those of someone about to be caught having lied in an official report. Still, knowing her, she must have suspected something would give her away. Must have planned for it, in any case.

_Stay out of this._

_I can't, and you know it,_ Itachi inwardly argued as he watched her answer Ibiki's same first questions without a hitch. He wished he had argued with her then, but he had not yet recovered any of his strength after Shisui's death. If he had pushed himself harder, maybe he would have convinced her to give up whatever she was keeping from him. It was too late now. She had to weather the storm alone and all he could do was watch from behind a one-way mirror.

"Itachi?"

He had heard the door open, just not reacted to it in time. When his head finally turned left to acknowledge Tsume hovering uncertainly in the doorway, her eyes had already flitted between Akane and him, separated by that thin yet unbreakable window. She sighed and held out something to him – a piece of paper. His stomach cringed as he took it.

"I'm sorry," Tsume said. "It's a bad time. But I've been thinking about it for a while." She hesitated. Scoffed, even as she frowned. "Truth be told, I'm getting too old for this."

Itachi did not need to read every word to understand what the piece of paper in his clutch was. Somehow, it did not come as a surprise. He did not resent Tsume's choice, either. As for what it meant, well, he had the impression team Yon had begun falling apart some time before this.

* * *

Akane walked a fine line between taking the time to detect Ibiki's traps and giving the safe answer. They had crossed paths before, at the beginning of this road, and a man like him would certainly not fall for the same tricks twice. On the contrary, he was warier the second time around, watching her every reaction like a hawk ready to dive at any moment. He seemed almost certain she was lying. Whatever had tipped him off, there was nothing for her to do but build up the case against it based on the skeleton of her report.

"The coroner's report specified the cause of death as a high-voltage _ninjutsu_ that penetrated the chest cavity and struck the heart," Ibiki said. "You are the only one in your team able to perform the _Chidori_, am I correct?"

"Uchiha-_taichou's_ _Sharingan_ would enable him to copy it as far as I know." There was no shifting the blame in this case, since she had been alone with Suisen at the time of his death, but Morino needed to get his facts right. Had she not been in such a tight spot, she might have found her own self-righteousness amusing. No wonder Tsume still called her Princess.

"Did you or did you not use the _Chidori_ to kill Suisen Hyuuga?"

"I did."

"And you claim it was self-defense?"

_I was hoping you would use the sword. Less messy, less… personal._

"I do."

Ibiki's pen scratched against the paper in the silence that ensued. He then raised his eyes to Akane once more. "_Chidori,"_ he reiterated. "Copy Ninja Kakashi's one original technique, a rapid speed _jutsu_ more suitable for assassinations."

"The very same."

"You used it to defend yourself?"

_Trap_, she thought. However, not even Ibiki could use information he did not fully understand. "For someone without the _Sharingan_, the shorter the range the better," she said. "No tunnel-vision. I wouldn't have had time to immobilize him, he was too fast. I used the _Chidori_ point blank."

Ibiki's eyes might have narrowed infinitesimally. Then again, they might have not. They were nearing the end of her report concerning Suisen's last moments and he seemed close to wrapping up his part and calling it a day. Whether she had convinced Ibiki or not was irrelevant. The real challenge was drawing near.

"Did Suisen Hyuuga say anything to you before he died?"

_Well played… Akane._

"No."

Such an odd question, Akane mused as Ibiki resumed his scribbling in the silence that ensued. So casually integrated and asked. Like an afterthought. Except it stuck out like a sore thumb. A shiver licked down her spine and crawled underneath her skin, raising goosebumps in its wake. Ibiki glanced up, quirking a brow.

"I'm cold," she said in reply to his silent question.

"You can put your coat back on."

She could feel him watching her every move as she went to get it. She heard the interview room's door open and close, but thought nothing of it until she turned around and saw who was standing behind Ibiki. There were now two pairs of eyes set on her, one of which was achingly familiar.

"Shall we commence with the second part of the interview?" Ibiki asked.

Akane had known her account would be recorded by Ibiki and checked by a Yamanaka. She had mentally prepared herself for it and it did not surprise her to find one standing by his side now. She had simply expected a different Yamanaka to delve into her mind. Inoichi, most likely, or perhaps someone else. Certainly not her.

Not Yui, her childhood companion and former teammate, whom she had not seen or spoken to in years. Not since…

"Hello, Akane," the tall blonde said, displaying a smile that almost made her shiver again.

"You are a Konoha _shinobi, _not an enemy," Ibiki said. "You deserve this courtesy. I thought you might be more comfortable letting a friend in."

_It's you who should be dead, not Koga!_

Yui had not been smiling then. Her amber eyes had been filled with venom and traces of it were still there now, as they measured each other from opposite ends of the interview room, more than eight years later.

Ibiki knew. There was no way he did not. He cared nothing for conflicts of interest and this was the opposite of courtesy. He would lie through his teeth even as he brandished his sharpest weapon. Anything to tear down her walls.

"Is something the matter?" Ibiki asked.

_Rub it in, you sly dog. _"No. Let's get this over with," Akane said, retaking her place in the chair as Yui pulled one for herself at Ibiki's side. She could not let his tactics get under her skin. Although Yui was the last Yamanaka she wanted rummaging through her head, she was also the only one whose _chakra_ and methods Akane was familiar with. If she was careful, she could use that to her advantage.

"Don't worry, this will be just like falling asleep," Yui told her, though the icy undercurrent in her voice did little to set Akane's mind at ease. The timeframe would be small. She would have to be careful even after squeezing through. "Are you ready?"

"Yes."

Yui's hands formed a variation of the Mind Transfer _jutsu _seal. "I'm going in." A split second later, she projected her _chakra_ and conscience across the room, into Akane's mind.

Ibiki watched the two women slump in their chairs, as if they had both suddenly fallen asleep. This would take a while. Yui liked to take her time. Sooner or later, the truth would come out though, and that was all he cared about, whatever this overblown inquiry was all about. Perhaps the Nara woman had stepped on the wrong toes this time around. Either way, Ibiki would do his job.

* * *

Yui waited patiently while her _chakra _flared to map out the darkness inside Akane's unconscious mind. This mind-delving _jutsu_ was often used to retrieve memories, and it enabled her to make out the abstract pathways within one's hippocampus and reshape them into something concrete; a decoding process that allowed her to walk those very paths in order to sift through a person's memories.

Floorboards arrayed themselves under Yui's feet, a ceiling stretched over her head and walls rose on either side, punctuated by closed _shoji_ doors at various intervals. She found herself standing in the middle of a hallway, the beginning and end of which were obscured by lingering shadows. More often, the pathways could be reconstructed into something resembling a library, but this end result suited Yui just as well. As long as it could be navigated, it did not matter that it appeared to be a traditional house.

Something skittered in the darkness, producing a faint sound like tiny claws scrabbling against the lacquered floorboards. Yui turned abruptly, startled by the echo. She waited for a few moments that dragged on, but no other noise rose from the shadows. Instead of a library, leave it to Akane to have a mind reminiscent of a haunted house. And here Yui had thought once a nerd, always a nerd. She supposed working in the ANBU required a whole other level of compartmentalization.

Yui reached for the nearest _shoji_ panel and pulled it open. The shadows shifted, dancing along the walls to reveal a simple room. A little girl with dark hair was curled up at the foot of an empty double bed, sobbing into her knees. She had projected herself too deep, Yui realized, snapping the panel shut. Too far into the past. The broken sounds of crying receded as she walked away and down along the hallway.

It was impossible to determine how far the corridor stretched on, or behind which door she would find the memory she was looking for. Memory reading was not an exact science, with the reader's experience varying from subject to subject. The quality of the material itself differed. Older memories tended to be more faded, like damaged video tapes. This part of Akane's mind was full of them. Yui started running. Her time here was not without limit.

Snap. Snap. Snap. One _shoji_ door after another. The same skittering sound echoed along the hall, behind her, giving Yui pause for a moment. Something was not right. Something was here that was not supposed to be. She had no time to investigate how such a thing could be, unfortunately.

She opened another panel, her arm muscles flexing, by now used to pulling them shut almost immediately. A scream tore out from behind the door and the scene laid beyond the threshold caused Yui to stop dead in her tracks.

"_KOGA!"_

Yui saw her _genin_ self, wide eyed and trembling, standing by frozen in the middle of the Forest of Death. Koga was down in the grass, eyes closed, a trickle of blood streaking his cheek from the corner of his mouth. More frothed and bubbled between his lips as Akane pressed into the gaping wound on his chest. His flabby, mangled arms, which he had used to push Akane from the blast of an explosive tag trap, lay still in the grass.

"_Help me!"_

A teary Akane was shouting at the younger Yui, but her eyes were on the blood, all the blood: on Akane's arms, spattered on her face, spilling in the grass and seeping into the ground and Koga was dead, he was gone, why couldn't she see and it was _her fault-_

Yui pulled the panel shut with such force it reverberated through her arm. She brushed a curl behind the ear, allowing herself a few moments to regain her composure. Of all the memories she could have stumbled upon. She scoffed. What were the odds?

She stormed further along, blasting like a whirlwind from doorway to doorway, through Akane's _chuunin_ years, her medical training, rooms full of books she had studied and committed to this light-forsaken place, then into the ANBU and through a whirl of faces and happenings Yui had neither the time nor the patience to sift through. She cursed under her breath with relief when she finally made it out of all that into Akane's last year.

It was halfway through it, however, when Yui noticed something odd. The shadows along the hallway were growing thicker, shifting with her as she moved, as if to cover something. She gravitated toward their midst, her fingers brushing over torn rice paper panels clinging to the lacquered skeleton of their broken _shoji_ frame. Something so out of place within Akane's orderly mind beckoned to Yui like a lighthouse through the storm. She grasped at the door's edge and gently pried it open.

At first, the light of the dying embers cast everything else within in darkness. Then something moved within that darkness, followed by a strangled whimper. A shiver ran through Yui as her eyes began adapting to the lack of light. She stood in the doorway, transfixed. It was not what she had been looking for, but it filled her with a different kind of understanding.

"There's motive," she murmured to herself.

The shadows parted as she backed away, only to fall back like a curtain over the memory Akane probably wished she had repressed. The one that had festered, instead. Yui followed that corruption like a bloodhound, pushing those insistent skittering noises in the dark to the back of her mind. Omission of the truth was still a lie. One lie led to another. By picking up that one thread, Yui could almost feel the whole thing unravelling under her fingertips. She laughed. This steaming pile was likely bigger than even Ibiki thought.

She went back to her rampage through the _shoji_ doors that bore the marks of that one, terrible memory, looking for either more clues or the denouement that she had actually come for. How much more could there be, after all?

A door to the left caught Yui's attention at some point. She had moved faster and the shadows had not been able to cover it in due time. She stepped closer. Cold air blew against her face through the hanging corner of one paper panel. A couple of snowflakes floated through, spiraling into the darkness behind Yui.

A voice came from within, though barely audible. _"Tell Itachi…"_

Yui reached out to pull the door open, only to stop short when a second set of panels slid closed over the broken ones with a loud snap. Her jubilance came to an abrupt end.

"_Please. Promise me."_

She did not recognize the voice. Her hand went to the second set of doors, when another snap caused her to jerk it back. _Impossible,_ she thought. The already faint sounds coming from within became inaudible through the multiple sets of doors springing shut from the walls. There was no getting through this one, it seemed. She was running out of _chakra_ and out of time. Whatever memory this was, Yui could not access it. She needed to move on.

_The truth is always in the last place you look for it,_ one of her mentors from the Analysis Team had told Yui during her training. The words had stuck with her throughout the years. It was not as much about the truth as it was about finding that last place. The thread she had uncovered led Yui to it unerringly: one of the last few doors she could see. The same winter chill blew through it. The shadows danced around it.

Yui opened it and stepped inside.

* * *

It seemed like they had been out of it for hours when in truth, only minutes had passed. A clock had been ticking on the wall behind Itachi all this time, its constant noise loud enough in the silence to keep anyone on edge. Perhaps the Yamanaka's _jutsu_ enabled her to bend time, like his _Tsukuyomi_.

He remembered her, of course. He had always been adept at remembering faces, even without his _sharingan_ active to make the job a real piece of cake. She was probably the one being he would not want to literally pick his brains. This Yui person seemed the type to sooner hack through them with a _katana_.

She was the first to stir.

Itachi's eyes immediately darted to Akane, who snapped out of the _jutsu_ a few moments later, looking groggy and beaten. Ibiki's one question to the Yamanaka woman came through the sound system crackling.

"Well?"

The blonde's back straightened as Akane remained doubled over, as if in pain. Itachi felt himself tensing again. When Yui's voice finally came through, it did so with the force of a _tsunami_.

"She told the truth."

**I know you have questions. I can only say most of them will probably be answered in the next chapter (do feel free to ask if need be, I will answer in a PM). I already stretched the usual word limit with this one, but I ended it with what I think is a smaller cliffhanger than it could have been. **


	34. Dawn Break

**Chapter 34 – Dawn Break**

Pain flared through Akane's head when her eyes opened and the harsh, fluorescent light of the interview room flooded in. Its buzzing filled her ears and she barely recognized Ibiki's gruff voice through it as the world slowly came into focus again. Her senses appeared to be readjusting to it all at once, recalibrating. Was this a side effect of Yui's _jutsu_ or was she only experiencing it because she had done something she was not supposed to? Either way, she could not let on that something was wrong.

"She told the truth."

Akane fought off a wave of nausea brought on by dizziness as she forced her body into a more natural pose in the chair. Yui's words came through distorted, but intelligible. She should have felt relief at the sound of them, but when her vision cleared and she met the blonde's eyes, she broke into a cold sweat instead. Whereas the venom in them had failed to intimidate her before, its current absence raised a silent alarm.

Ibiki himself appeared to have sniffed something in the air that he did not quite like. His scarred face was as stony as ever when he turned to the Yui, but the simple fact that he did turn spoke volumes. Even without him asking, "are you certain?"

It was then that Yui finally took her eyes off Akane to glare at him. "Of course I'm certain." she said. "This was a waste of time."

Akane shivered. She pulled the jacket tighter around herself, fighting to keep the tremor from her voice. "Am I free to go, then?" she asked.

Ibiki turned his gaze from Yui to her. He almost looked disappointed now. Perhaps somewhat unconvinced, to top it off, but he could not contest a Yamanaka's word on this – not without stirring up more trouble than this whole affair was worth to him. He rearranged the papers in his clipboard and his facial expression back into one of casual boredom.

"Yes," he said evenly, "you may go."

Akane wanted nothing more than to leave that room as fast as humanly possible. Her stomach was roiling and all the tension kept down under the knot in her throat was threatening to burst out. However, she could feel Yui's hawk-like gaze on her, watching her every move. She prayed she would not see how badly her hands were trembling as they reached for the scarf in the hanger. Then she glanced at the large mirror on the wall to her left. A one-way window. She did not need to see through it, beyond her own ghostlike reflection, to know who was on the other side. Her heart quivered.

_I'm sorry, Itachi,_ she thought. _I don't think I'm out of the woods yet._ Akane could only hope to one day meet him on the other side with the apology she owed him. By then, however, it may already be too late.

Leaving the interrogation room did little to ease the pressure in her chest. Akane navigated the cold-lit hallways of the Intelligence Headquarters until she found the restroom and put another door between herself and the interrogators. The headache pulsed, mired under her skull and she massaged her temples to soothe it, to no avail. She ambled to a sink on knees that threatened to give in and turned the faucet to splash cold water on her face.

Akane did not hear the door open over the sound of running water. She only heard it click shut. Like a trap springing. She should have known no number of doors would stop Yui.

She turned off the faucet, but remained hanging over the sink, water dripping from her face into it. She had neither the strength nor the courage to face Yui now, not when one look would unravel the already threadbare fabric she had woven. Yui herself stood leaning against the door, barring her way out. Akane could not have run from this even if she wanted to. The silence stretched, punctuated by the dripping of water. The light on the ceiling buzzed.

"Meet me in the Academy courtyard at five."

Akane looked up. Yui's face was hardened, her gaze set in a glare. It was not a request, Akane had picked up the _'or else'_ in the blonde's tone. If Yui did not know, she suspected, at the very least.

She had succeeded in retaining a fragment of consciousness during the mind-delving _jutsu_ and showing Yui a recreated, false memory of Suisen's death to match the report only to falter near the end.

_Here's your prize… Akane._

The sound of his voice was still so clear in her head that Akane shivered. She could see his tongue rolling out to reveal that black seal as if he were right in front of her, dying again. After hours upon hours of training her mind, painstakingly rewriting that memory, in the end she had been unable to write out that one part. She had thought of it like learning an epic poem by heart to recite in front of an audience - her mistake, it had been nothing like it.

She had tried and failed. Yui had seen that. As to why she had not exposed her deceit, Akane did not know. She supposed the answer would be waiting for her in the Academy courtyard in a few hours.

She was not wrong.

* * *

The howling wind had stopped and though thick clouds lingered above Konoha, they had called for a cease fire as well. Everything was still and the only sound Akane could hear was the snow crunching underfoot as she made her way past the Academy gate. The last time she had been here, she had dropped by at the end of Shikamaru's graduation ceremony to congratulate him. It had been summer then. Only last summer, and so many things were different now it felt like more than one year had passed.

Yui was sitting in the lone swing hanging from the low branches of an oak tree. The hair she usually straightened as part of her morning routine had curled up because of the humidity. She looked up as Akane approached, her face a blank slate upon which any expression could take form. The silence stretched between them as if neither could quite find their words after not having spoken for so long.

"I know what you did," Yui began eventually.

Akane shoved her hands in her pockets and tried to mask how she willed her heart to still. It was not just the winter cold creeping under her skin. She remained tight-lipped, determined to maintain an impassive façade until she could determine how much Yui thought she knew.

"You made a lot of noise, but it was keeping that memory from me that did it. I knew that somehow you could warp the truth. I knew whatever I saw in the end would be a lie." Yui's gaze had drifted down to the snow, but returned to Akane with renewed vigor. "How did you do it?"

There was no point in lying. "I became a mouse."

Yui's glare vanished, wiped out by incredulousness. Then she scoffed. "Only you could come up with something so ridiculous."

"After all the times you practiced your stupid mind _jutsus _on me, what did you expect?"

It had been like lucid dreaming. The tricky part had been retaining that one fragment of consciousness. A grain of her _chakra_ within Yui's, to be shaped and molded into something as inconspicuous as possible. However, even the smallest creature could sometimes cast a very large shadow. It had enabled her to protect Shisui's last moments and recreate Suisen's death and she might have gotten away with it even with that slip at the end, had it been any other Yamanaka in her head.

"Why didn't you tell Ibiki?" Akane asked. The rift which had opened up between them in the aftermath of Koga's death had meant the death of whatever notion of friendship and comradery they had ever had. It certainly would not have stopped Yui from pointing the blaming finger.

"I don't care about the truth," Yui said simply.

Nor professionalism, it seemed. It was hard to think those words were coming out of an Intelligence officer's mouth. She had not taken Yui for a sentimentalist, either. Was she missing something here?

"Well… thank you," Akane said uncertainly.

"I didn't do it for you," Yui snapped. Then she seemed to hesitate. Her voice went down to a whisper, soft enough that Akane had to step closer to hear. "That Hyuuga guy, do you have any idea who he was?"

The question caught Akane off guard. Another shiver licked down along her spine. She shook her head.

"The symbol on his tongue, I've only seen it once before," Yui said, maintaining her low tone of voice. "My brother, Fuu, has it – the exact same one. He's in the ANBU root division, under Danzo's direct command."

If the sky had cracked open like an egg right there and then, it would not have surprised Akane more. As it was, it still felt like it suddenly came crashing down on the top of her head. But also like the final piece of a puzzle falling into place.

"Danzo?" she uttered, dumb-struck.

"Yes, Danzo," Yui snapped again, "the bandaged geezer on the council. Practically untouchable, so he thinks he can do as he pleases. He took my little brother from us and turned him into a… into this…"

Akane watched Yui struggle with her words as she herself fought to find hers.

"Do you know what the seal does?" she asked eventually.

Yui had given up on talking about Fuu and somewhat managed to recompose herself. "It keeps his agents from telling all his dirty secrets."

And still, it seemed Danzo had not trusted Suisen. With good reason.

_You'll be my legacy._

Revenge. Suisen had planted that seed within her and seen it grow. Had he meant to make her a conduit for his own vengeance? Against Danzo? Perhaps he had truly been insane. But for him to have been an ANBU root division operative… it raised more questions than it provided answers. How long had been in active duty for? Had he faked his own death on Danzo's orders? What _were_ his orders? When did he decide he no longer wanted to obey?

So, this was the spider sitting in the shadows, pulling the strings of its web. So close to Konoha's beating heart. It was only thanks to Yui that Akane had not been caught in it. If someone as high up as Danzo was behind the investigation and the truth had reached his ears… she dreaded to think about it, but she knew. Accidents happened. Missions sometimes went wrong. Some 'misfortune' would have befallen her, officially. In reality, she might have found herself at the pointy end of an assassin's blade. But without proof of Suisen's treachery, even someone like Danzo might hesitate to dispose of a Konoha _shinobi._

"I'm sorry about Fuu," Akane said.

She remembered him from years before as a bright little boy with red hair and amber eyes just like his sister's. She had had no idea he had been recruited into the Root. It must have happened after Koga's death.

For a long time, Yui said nothing. Then a few words tumbled out of her mouth. "He's not himself anymore. Not my little brother." She tapped into her reserves of viciousness and drew some of it out. "But I don't need your sympathy. Koga was a better person than the two of us combined and we both know it. We don't have to pretend."

"If I'm as horrible as you say, why did you help me?"

At that, Yui smirked. "Koga's soft heart got him killed. We became _shinobi. _It takes one to know one. Maybe someday we'll help tear that bastard down from his high horse."

Danzo had taken the wrong little brother. Fuu had been Yui's soft spot. She would find ways to undermine him, even if it meant helping someone she loathed. Yui hated Danzo more. For a moment, Akane had hoped the memory of their friendship had been her saving grace. But it was, as it always had been, a matter of convenience.

* * *

The Chidori crackled in her hand, the scream of a thousand birds enraged, seeking to take his life as he had taken her dignity. It roared as it cut through the cold air and burst through his chest in a mist of blood, instantly vaporized.

"Well played… Akane."

Again, that shiver of surprise at the sound of her name on his lips, the name he could not have known. The name Danzo had likely supplied. _What else?_ Her hand squeezed around his heart at that question, rage flowing through her veins now as it had not back then, when she had first killed him.

Her eyes found his and they were pale, only shades away from the snow around them. His blood was as red as any man's. That red seeped into his irises, swirling, three dark _tomoe_ taking shape against it. Black on red, like the seal against the blood on his tongue. But he was a Hyuuga and this was the Sharingan glowing in his eyes. This was not right.

Akane's heart jumped as she realized her arm was not buried in Suisen's chest, but Shisui's. She drew back with a gasp as he fell against the tree, the blood draining rapidly from the gaping wound.

"No!"

She immediately pressed her hands against it, healing _chakra_ surging, anything to stop the bleeding, to keep him from dying. This was her doing, how had she not seen it was Shisui? How blind, how incompetent? She wiped the tears on her cheeks with her shoulder, heart hammering as she realized his was slowing down, tired and beaten.

"No, no, no," she begged. "Please…"

"Akane…"

Itachi's voice. It was him now, instead of Shisui, bleeding out into the snow. Akane withdrew her trembling, bloody hands, stunned with grief. _What have I done?_

Yui's voice answered her unspoken question. "It's you who should have died, not Koga. Not Shisui. Not…"

"NO!" Akane screamed, jumping up from her bed, now wide awake.

She was drenched in sweat, still trembling from the nightmare. The world was dark outside her bedroom window. Akane drew up her knees and laced her arms around them as her breathing slowly steadied down to a normal rhythm. She stole a glance at the clock on the end table. It was not yet midnight.

* * *

The Uchiha compound was still and quiet under the blanket of starlight. A single sentry patrolled the main street, easily avoided on this moonless night, when no guests were expected nor intruders believed to dare trespass. The shadow was neither. It moved along without a sound, without so much as a hint of its presence. Only purpose.

It left the street, scaling the wall decorated with the Uchiha crest to go through gardens buried under snow. Its feet left no mark upon it to show its passing. It had only been here once before, but the memory of it lingered and sufficed. It found its way to the heart of the compound, where the main family's traditional house reigned in the midst of a zen garden whose _koi_ pond had frozen. The shadow stopped for a few moments there, listening, before going round and up the wall to one of the windows on the first floor. It slid open almost soundlessly, its frame cold to the touch. The shadow hopped on the sill, then slipped into the dark room.

Akane had barely landed one foot on the _tatami_ when Itachi tackled her and they came down on the floor in a whirl of limbs. The fall knocked the breath out of her in a soft gasp and she opened her hands to show she was unarmed as a cold and very sharp edge pressed against her throat. The Sharingan glowed red in the dark above her, but her eyes were used to the lack of light by now. Itachi was not in the least bit perturbed by the impromptu visit. But far from being casual, his expression had a hardness to it she had seldom seen on his face. It made him look older than his years.

The thud of the takedown had been loud enough to be heard throughout the house and a gruff voice came from beyond the door of Itachi's room: "Itachi? Is everything alright?"

Itachi's eyes did not leave her for a moment. "Yes," he said. "Just a bad dream."

Most _shinobi_ dealt with nightmares at some point in their lives. Their honed instincts and training caused them to thrash around in their sleep. Some could supposedly even perform lesser _jutsus _in their sleep. Most slept with a _kunai_ under the pillow. It was considered unwise to wake a sleeping _shinobi_ in any other way except from a distance.

Itachi listened to his father's heavy footsteps receding. His Sharingan caught the movement of the first tear rolling down on Akane's cheek. Then the second. He did not relinquish his hold and the _kunai_ remained firmly planted against her pulsing jugular. He had not been sleeping and yet only sensed her as she had started coming up the wall to his window. Like other things about her, it unnerved him.

"What are you doing?" he asked quietly.

She swallowed the knot in her throat, but the blade did not budge and she felt a sting as it parted her skin. Being pinned down like this brought back memories Akane would have rather not faced again and still, she dared not move. Neither could she stop the tears from falling now.

"I wanted to apologize," she whispered.

Itachi considered her words. They seemed sincere. After everything they had been through, after losing Shisui, he would have hated to lose her, too. But he still doubted. He needed to know. And if she lied to him now…

"Was it self-defense?" he asked.

A drop of blood slid down her throat from underneath the _kunai_. Another joined it as her head moved. Left, then right and back again. No. Being right often left a bitter taste in his mouth. But she was giving him the truth she had no doubt worked hard to keep from Ibiki and his Yamanaka bloodhound. Itachi took the pressure from the blade and withdrew, extending a hand to help her get up from the floor. Akane's hand was trembling when she took it.

"I'll tell you everything," she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. "Come with me."

Itachi did not ask where. He simply followed her out the window and into the night.

* * *

The sky was clear, and though the moon had turned its face from the world, starlight lit their path through Konoha. They did not speak as they ran, two shadows now, fleeting across rooftops. Soon it was branches they were treading, the dormant limbs of trees which formed the forests around Konoha's largest training grounds. They would not be bothered here, lost in the wilderness.

They followed the sound of a brook, upstream, away from the village, until they came by a lake. A waterfall thundered on the other side, the force of its waters too great to bend to the will of winter. They found a small cave nestled in the side of a rocky outcrop by the shore and gathered wood to start a fire. It may have stopped snowing, but the air still held a cutting edge.

They had come here unprepared, with only the cloaks on their backs and a few weapons. It would make no difference. If anything, it reminded them both of their forming years, when such survival exercises had been mandatory and formed a hefty part of their training. Nowadays, they allowed Academy students to bring along some basic items in a standard pack. Some managed to sneak in _bentos._

They curled up by the fire, watching it crackle and sputter as it consumed the wood. It was wet and produced smoke, but it drifted outwards and up towards the sky. The heat radiated from the front while cold creeped in along their backs. Though half the night had passed, what remained of it still felt long.

Akane had promised Itachi she would tell him everything, and she did. Slow at first, the truth then began to rapidly unfold. She told him how Suisen had really died. About the seal on his tongue. Him having known her name. Her hospital locker being broken into. About how she had attempted to thwart the Yamanaka woman's mind-delving _jutsu_. About Yui and what she had told her hours after the interview. About Danzo.

Itachi listened through it all, watching as the dots connected. He wondered if the Hokage had known about Danzo's activities. He wanted to believe if he had known about it all he would have tried to put a stop to it. He certainly had not known about Suisen and now never would. The only person who could take Danzo down was dead. Konoha had no Hokage yet.

"I know there's nothing that can be done about it," Akane said. "I think I'm safe now thanks to Yui, but if something happens to me…"

However sharp one's blade and strong one's _jutsus,_ a _shinobi's _greatest weapon would still be knowledge. Information was a hefty commodity. Some died to obtain it, others to protect it. Akane had armed him. Even if nothing could be done at the moment, the same could not be said about the future.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

Itachi realized he had been deep in thought, processing everything she had had days to digest. It bothered him that corruption ran so deep within Konoha, under the guise of necessity and practicality. He had thought better of their leaders. But he realized now he could not expect more from those who had been warring for the better part of their lives. It was all they knew.

"I'm sorry I couldn't save Shisui," Akane said when he did not reply. "And I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"I understand why you did it," he said. By keeping him in the dark, Akane had tried to protect him. To protect the team from the danger she could sense but not yet see. He would have done the same in her place.

_You and her are alike._

For the first time, Shisui's voice in his head, the memory of him glancing over Suisen's file as he said those words did not bring up pain. Only a sort of melancholy. The bleeding had stopped. The wound would close, in time. A scar would remain, one among many; there were more in his heart than on his body. And although they still hurt from time to time, he would survive.

"I'll be alright," Itachi said, looking at her.

A gust of wind blew in through the mouth of the cave, making the flames dance and a shower of sparks flew up as a log shifted and fell. Some of the warmth was swept out. Itachi held out an arm. This time, Akane did not hesitate. She shifted wordlessly, filling the empty space beside him and leaving no room for winter's cold to burrow.

* * *

Itachi did not know when he had fallen asleep, only that it had been mercifully dreamless. His shoulder hurt from a pebble on the cave floor having dug into his flesh and his face was warm from the heat of the dying embers. He sat up, all grogginess dispelled by the realization that he was alone. Akane was not with him. A shiver ran through him and he stood up to look for her outside. How had he slept so deeply that he had not sensed her leave? It miffed him, however much he wanted to blame it on the exhaustion of one too many sleepless nights.

_If something happens to me…_

Itachi shuffled out of the cave into the soft light outside and stopped dead in his tracks. The sky was clear above, but a red sun was rising among blushing clouds on the horizon. Akane was standing on the lake shore, facing away from him. Her legs were planted firmly in the ground, arms swaying gently, shifting from one position to the next with perfectly controlled movements, her whole body rotating to follow suite.

She was practicing her _katas,_ he realized. A quiet exercise meant to be done alone, it was unique to each _shinobi_ as they developed and practiced it throughout the years to hone their bodies and minds. Control. Focus. Akane moved with catlike grace, her sequence like a slow dance.

Itachi remained still and watched, drawn in by something unspoken. He did not know what it was; only that in the light of that dawn, it felt as if he were seeing Akane for the first time.

**Long time. But I finally got a job (and during the damn pandemic) so I have that going for me. Unfortunately, that means less time for writing :( I hope this chapter finds you all well! **


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